Column: ALL WRITE

 

AL S. MENDOZA

  

WHAT ELSE IS

NEW? PACMAN

BY KNOCKOUT

  

I CAN’T remember saying Manny Pacquiao will not win by knockout every time he fought.

Of course, I came out always right—almost.   

The times he won on points, he had foes that were mostly unwilling to fight.  They weren’t that many, though.

During the last 10 years or so alone, beginning in 2001, Pacquiao knocked out 15 of his 23 opponents. 

That’s one of the highest knockout rates in recent memory.

He began by knocking out Lehlo Ledwaba in the 6th on June 23, 2001, sparking a six-win streak by knockout stretching up to his sensational 11th-round stoppage of Marco Antonio Barrera on November 15, 2003.

After that infamous draw with Juan Manuel Marquez in May 2004, Pacquiao rattled off five knockouts in his next seven fights.

It could have easily been a 7-0 knockout binge but for a head butt-caused eyebrow cut he suffered in the fifth in his first of three fights against Erik Morales in 2005 that ended in an inauspicious 12-round points loss to the Mexican.

After two successive knockout wins against Hector Velasquez and Morales in 2006, Pacquiao, finding Oscar Larios “too nice and gentle” a foe, merely contented himself with a points victory.

But that was of portents to come.

In his next bout—the third against Morales—Pacquiao returned to his devastating ways and stopped Morales in the third in November 2006.

He next scored a unanimous decision victory in his rematch against Barrera in 2007, but only because Barrera, mindful of his crushing defeat in 2003, had busied himself in running rather than fighting.

Then came Pacquiao’s split decision victory over Marquez in March 2008. 

What followed next was Marquez’s tireless, loud and often irrational protestation over the result, earning him a trilogy set for tomorrow, November 13, at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

MGM Grand bodes well for Pacquiao as it is the same arena where he had won three of his current eight-division world crowns (against Ledwaba in 2001 122 lb, Ricky Hatton on May 2, 2009 l40 lb, and Miguel Cotto on Nov. 14, 2009 147 lb).

So, my fearless forecast?

That same, tired refrain: Pacquiao by knockout.