Manny Pacquiao is trying to make History, Again
Manny Pacquiao is probably the greatest pound for pound boxer the world has ever seen. He has won titles in seven different weight divisions and has already made history by being elected as a congressman in his native Philippines. He is trying to make history again by winning an eighth title in his eighth weight division. It seems that this unbelievably athlete is unstoppable and the one boxer who might be able to give him a tough time, Floyd Mayweather, is in hiding at the moment and his camp has not responded to calls from Pacquiao for the biggest fight that boxing has ever seen. Is there anything that this great sport star cannot do?
Manny Pacquiao is the greatest boxer in the world at the moment, and he has already made history twice before. Once by winning titles in seven different weight divisions, and secondly by becoming the first boxer turned congressman in Philippines. The third feat he is trying to accomplish is winning the eighth title in the eighth weight division. He was about to be featured in the fight of the century. A $200 million fight was being set up between him and another quality boxer; Floyd Mayweather, but after silence from the Mayweather camp that fight seems to be on hold at the moment. So Pacquiao decided to make history instead, (Jeff Powell, 2010).
He will become the first fighter in boxing history to win an eight title in eight different weight divisions. Most fighters are content to stay in one weight division for the duration of their careers, but Manny is no ordinary fighter. He switches weight divisions in order to fight against people who will actually give him some sort of a challenge. The seven different weight divisions are as follows; flyweight, junior featherweight, featherweight, junior lightweight, lightweight, junior welterweight and finally welterweight. He won his welterweight title after defeating the Puerto Rican boxer Miguel Cotto in front of 16,200 boxing fans, (Dan Rafael, 2009). Even though Manny was smaller than Cotto, he employed his signature insane punching speed to overpower Cotto and he had no idea what hit him.
Pacquiao started out as a 16 year old 106 pound boxer and won his first championship at 112 pounds. He has managed to climb the weight ladder unlike anyone else in the sport. His professional record of 50 wins, 3 losses and 2 draws proves that he is the best fighter in the world. A lot of people were saying that Pacquiao was too old to beat Cotto, at the age of 30 Manny seems to be close to retiring, (Vivek Wallace, 2009). The thing about Pacquiao is that he does not brag about what he can do and he does not comment on talk of him getting too old to win. What he does do though is to prove himself in the ring, his extremely fast punching speed has left opponents wondering what happened to them long after the match has finished and by beating Cotto in the 12th round by TKO, he proved his naysayers that he still has it.
A lot of fans are speaking out and saying that Manny should not be fighting against Antonio Margarito to try and claim his 8th title. They see the fight as a joke and unless Pacquiao can get up to the 154 pound weight limit for the division, the fight will not make sense. A lot of fans are waiting for the Pacquiao vs. Mayweather fight and they think all other fights are just time fillers in preparation for that big one, (Lou Block, 2010). The problem is that Mayweather is not responding to calls for a fight and without Mayweather the world’s biggest fight cannot take place. It seems that Pacquiao fans will have to see their favourite boxer take on a cheater in Margarito, who once went into a ring for a fight with a weight taped in his glove. He is a dodgy boxer but it will not matter because if Manny manages to get an eighth title it will not matter if it came by beating a cheater or not.
Yes, the biggest fight in the world of boxing will be Mayweather vs. Pacquiao but until then all the boxing fans out there will have to deal with one of the best boxers making history. It does not seem to be that much of a trade off because we will all get to see the phenomenal Pacquiao in action, not against Mayweather but it matters not if he can become the first boxer in history to win 8 titles in 8 weight divisions.
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