(photo credit Steve Marcus, Las Vegas Sun from the fight with De La Hoya last December)
The Las Vegas Review Journal has the blow by blow description of Manny's 2nd round knockout against the British champ Ricky Hatton on Saturday night.
It was Pacquiao's first time fighting at 140 pounds and the Filipino's fourth straight win in a different weight class, having already posted victories at 130 pounds, 135 and 147.
"I'm surprised this fight was so easy but I worked hard since the beginning of training camp in March," Pacquiao said. "Nothing personal, but this is as big a victory for me as when I beat Oscar De La Hoya."
Wikipedia says
He has also held the Ring Magazine featherweight, super featherweight, and light welterweight divisions. For his achievements, he became the first Filipino and Asian boxer to win five world titles in five different weight divisions. He is currently the IBO and Ring Magazine Light Welterweight champion and is rated by the Ring Magazine as the #1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world.
Now, if you followed all that, you're a bigger fight fan than I am. To make it even more complicated, I read somewhere else that he has 6 world titles in 6 different weight classes. Number 1 in the world is what he is.
This is one of the things I miss about living in Las Vegas.
I love boxing, but there are too many weight classes right now. And too many governing bodies.
ReplyDeleteBoxing won't be fixed (ha) until they figure out how to combine the titles a bit. Right now there are 4 recognized heavyweight "world" champions. And it could be 5 because Wladimir Klitschko holds both the IBF and WBO titles. And he is a guy who has lost bouts to guys named Ross Puritty, Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster. C'mon!
Want a real joke? Watch Nicolai Valuev fight. He "shares" the WBA title (what the hell does THAT mean?) with Ruslan Chagaev (I'm not making these names up). He is 7'0" and he is a lumbering ox. Yet he is 50 and 1 as a pro with one no-contest.
So much for boxing being the "sweet science". Thank God for fighters like Pacman and Mayweather, Jr. The latter is making a comeback, by the way. Why not?
As an Englishman I was cheering for Hatton, but seeing how clinically the Pac Man disposed of him I would have to say you are probably right. Best pound-for-pound figure on the scene at the moment.
ReplyDeletePacman is a boxing prodigy and considering that he has consistently dominated other gifted opponents, he may well be one of the best of all time. Hoepfully Suger Shane Mosley will be able to give him some real competition.
ReplyDeleteAs for fixing boxing, rival MMA's will probably force a fix soon. With the exception of a few boxing super stars, MMA out sells boxing event by event. Though I cant stand MMA, market competition is the best way to force fixes.
And yes, I agree, the heavy weight division looks more like WWF than WBA.