Bracing for 'hard' fight

There’s a noticeable trend in WBO welterweight champion Rep. Manny Pacquiao’s choice of opponents since he scored a split 12-round decision over Mexican whiner Juan Manuel Marquez in March 2008.

Top Rank chairman Bob Arum appears to be selecting opponents for Pacquiao on a calculated basis of alternating “hard” and “easy” fights. If the idea is to prolong Pacquiao’s ring career, then Arum is right on the money. No sense wearing down Pacquiao and risking heavy damage by scheduling back-to-back “hard” fights – that would only shorten his tenure.

It was in 2008 when Pacquiao last logged three fights in a year. Starting 2009, Pacquiao has fought only twice a year. It’s not only a strategy to preserve his longevity but also a clever way to boost his marketability. The less Pacquiao fights, the more marketable he is when he finally climbs onto the ring. Too much of a good thing sometimes blunts the public’s appetite to buy tickets or pay-for-view subscriptions. 

Clearly, Pacquiao is at his peak. His marketability both as an attraction at the box office and a celebrity endorser is at an all-time high. He’s now doing TV commercials internationally. No Filipino has ever achieved that prominence.

If you examine Pacquiao’s opponents since Marquez in 2008, you’ll notice the trend. After Marquez, he took on “easy” opponent David Diaz who was bludgeoned into submission in the ninth round for the WBC lightweight crown.  Then came a “hard” bout against Oscar de la Hoya who surrendered in his corner after the eighth round. Five months later, Pacquiao faced an “easy” opponent Ricky Hatton, a much-ballyhooed British star who has never recovered from a devastating second round knockout loss. The win earned for Pacquiao the IBO superlightweight title, the sixth in his growing collection.

In November 2009, Pacquiao battled “hard” opponent Miguel Cotto who was stopped in the 12th round for the WBO welterweight title. After three months, it was “easy” opponent Joshua Clottey’s turn to be victimized. The Ghanaian was clobbered and hardly fought back in dropping a unanimous 12-round decision. Last November, Pacquiao locked horns with “hard” opponent Antonio Margarito for the WBC superwelterweight title.  If only referee Laurence Cole was in his right senses, the fight should’ve been stopped as early as the 10th round but Margarito was allowed to survive the distance. The victory sealed Pacquiao’s eighth world title.

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Sugar Shane Mosley followed and as it turned out, he was an “easy” opponent last May. Mosley was decked in the third round and was never the same after the trip to the canvas. Pacquiao settled for a wide win on points.

Next in Pacquiao’s agenda is Marquez on Nov. 12 and if the trend is accurate, he is expected to be a “hard” opponent. This will be the third meeting between the archrivals. They fought to a split draw in their first encounter which Pacquiao should’ve won by a split decision if only judge Burt Clements didn’t commit a mistake in scoring the first round 10-7 when it should’ve been 10-6 because Marquez was floored thrice.

Pacquiao’s merciful attitude in the Margarito fight has fueled speculation that he may be losing his killer’s instinct – the warrior’s mentality that led to brutal demolitions of Chatchai Sasakul, Lehlo Ledwaba, Marco Antonio Barrera and Hatton. During the Margarito fight, Pacquiao looked at Cole at least twice as if to appeal for an end to the massacre. And before the start of the 12th round, Pacquiao asked Margarito if he was okay. After the fight, TV commentator Larry Merchant wondered why Pacquiao spared Margarito from a brutal finish and the Filipino icon said boxing wasn’t killing – it’s a sport.

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In the Mosley bout, Pacquiao again appeared to hold back his punches. He stepped up his attack in the 10th round after referee Kenny Bayless ruled an undeserved knockdown on a clear slip but didn’t really go for the jugular. Mosley escaped with his feet on the canvas.  Throughout the contest that drew catcalls from a sellout crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the fighters repeatedly touched gloves – like a friendly assurance from Pacquiao that he wouldn’t pulverize Mosley.

“If Pacquiao is winning and the other man isn’t any kind of a threat to him, then he seems quite content to treat the fight like a sparring session,” wrote Graham Houston in Boxing Monthly magazine (June 2011).

Trainer Freddie Roach was teased by friends after the Mosley fight that he owed Sugar Shane $1,000 for scoring a “knockdown” against Pacquiao. Roach has a standing offer of $1,000 for any sparmate to floor Pacquiao. The joke was the fight against Mosley was more like a sparring session.

But has Pacquiao really lost his killer’s instinct? And if so, why? Is it because as a congressman, he has become more humane and less of a warrior fighting with reckless abandon in the ring?

We’ll discuss this topic at length in tomorrow’s column with inputs from boxing legend Roberto Duran and ageless world champion Bernard Hopkins.