Insiders claim Manny Pacquiao ready for bout, moral questions remain
Of course it was to be expected.
With less than a week to go before Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito face off in Arlington, Texas, more and more insiders are working to dispel notions of Manny being unprepared for the bout.
Perhaps none have worked as hard as Max Boxing’s Gabriel Montoya, who indicated in a recent article that “Pacman” is in thriving condition.
Montoya caught up with a number of Pacquiao’s entourage at the Wild Card Gym to get the real 411 on Pacquiao’s progress. Catching Pacquiao’s long time sparring partner Ray Beltran, he asked if Pacquiao seemed significantly different this time around compared
to previous training camps.
“I don’t know if he is focused when he gets out of the ring,” Beltran said. “When he is in the ring, he doesn’t mind whooping my butt, so I gotta say he is focused [...] He looks the same as usual. Very strong, lot of speed. This time he has a little
more leg movement. I don’t think he wants to stay in the pocket.”
Against Margarito, Pacquiao will be giving up some odd 15 pounds and five inches. Margarito is an aggressive fighter who is at home coming forward, even if that means tasting leather getting there. He is not recognized for his speed or his technical ability.
Instead he is merely noted for his unrelenting aggression, work rate, and sensational chin.
Against those assets, Pacquiao will definitely look to stay out of the line of fire with sensational footwork and by cutting angles. One question will be whether or not he’ll be able to circle and avoid Margarito for the entire bout. If Margarito is able
to catch him or engage him in a slugging match, Pacquiao may get in four shots to one, but it isn’t clear he’ll damage Margarito.
Montoya suggested that the HBO special series dedicated to hyping the Pacquiao – Margarito bout, 24/7, has painted an unrealistic picture of things in order to sell the fight. The show highlights Manny’s ‘chaotic’ camp in Baguio City, and an angelic disciple
in Margarito.
But as Buboy Fernandez, another long time member of team Pacquiao, said when Montoya interviewed him: “Before we leave the Philippines, we were in 100% condition,” mirroring a claim Pacquiao himself made just as he was leaving his home base.
Aside from lingering concerns about Manny’s shape and focus, the other looming question with this bout is whether it should be morally supported or not. A lot of boxing fans have expressed chagrin with it to begin with, as just last year Margarito was all
but a disgraced fighter who had tried to fight with loaded gloves (an incident that resulted in his boxing license being revoked for a year).
Many have even criticized Pacquiao for accepting a bout with Margarito. For his own part, “Pacman” has responded that every fighter deserves a second chance. On the other hand, there’s always the possibility that he is merely wants to show the world he
is still improving on his skills, and simply wants to make short work of “The Tijuana Tornado.”
One intriguing idea that hasn’t really been considered for this bout is that Pacquiao, 31, still has a lot of physical improving to do. Indeed, he is still arguably not at his fighting peak, which is a scary thought for some.
At any rate, his future, and that of boxing, will be entirely contingent on the outcome of this bout. On the one hand, it seems unbelievable that Top Rank mastermind Bob Arum would have Pacquiao lose and thus s***w up chancing of a mega-payday fight with
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
At the same time, a lucrative fight between them wouldn’t be the end of boxing, and, as has been said, some things are simply out of the sport’s control.
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