By John F. McKenna (McJack): Over the last several years newly crowned World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KO’s) has made numerous insinuations that his arch rival World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38 KO’s) has cheated to achieve his success in the ring.
The argument goes that Pacquiao could not have travelled up through eight weight divisions and gone from 108 pounds to where he fights today at 144 pounds. Let’s take a look at the insinuations to see if they hold up under scrutiny.
First it must be noted that Pacquiao began his professional boxing career fifteen years ago at the age of 17. “Pacman” grew up in poverty in the Phillipines and weighed 105 pounds at the time of his first fight. Since that time through proper nutrition Manny has matured at the age of 32 to weigh in the range of 144 pounds.
The fact of the matter is that when Mayweather and Pacquiao were in their mid 20’s there was not a big difference in their weights. Mayweather at the age of 24 weighed 130 pounds, while Pacquaio at 126 weighed just four pounds less. At 26 years old Mayweather weighed 134 pounds to Manny’s 129. So it is not like there ever has been a great difference in their weights over the years.
The argument that Pacquiao achieved his success over night also does not hold up under scrutiny. By the time he was 20 years old Pacquiao had already had won the WBC flyweight belt in 1999. Mayweather did not win his first title belt until he was 21.
Manny defeated Marco Antonio Barrera before his 25th birthday and by the time he was 26 years old he had won titles at flyweight and super bantamweight and had drawn in the super fight with Juan Manuel Marquez.
Pacquiao’s most scintillating accomplishments in the ring came when he began training under Freddie Roach in the United States.
For all of his accomplishments and the millions of dollars he has made in the ring Floyd Mayweather Jr appears to have an obsession with Manny Pacquiao. This writer does not believe that Mayweather fears Pacquiao, but I do believe Floyd is paranoid about losing his “O” which will prevent him from ever stepping into the ring with Manny.
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