Is Pacman unbeatable?

MANILA, Philippines - WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao hasn’t lost in his last 14 fights and it seems like light years ago when he was beaten by Erik Morales on points in 2005. The win streak includes eight knockouts. In all, Pacquiao’s record is 53-3-2, with 38 KOs.

What may be a cause for some concern is Pacquiao’s last three fights went the distance as he outpointed Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito and Sugar Shane Mosley in that order.  Pacquiao’s inability to finish off his last three victims has raised serious questions. Is he slowing down? Has he lost his killer’s instinct? Is he now too compassionate for comfort?

Freddie Roach has reminded Pacquiao not to play Mr. Nice Guy when he battles Juan Manuel Marquez in their third encounter at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas tonight. Roach wants Pacquiao to dispose of Marquez before an “accident” happens. The Mexican covets Pacquiao’s scalp like it’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And Roach is wary that with Marquez’ difficult counterpunching style, Pacquiao might get caught napping.

In his book “An Unforgiving Sport,” writer Thomas Hauser said Pacquiao’s not unbeatable. “He and Marquez were separated by only one point after 24 rounds,” reminded Hauser, referring to their first two meetings. “But Manny has become a complete fighter, possibly the best fighter ever to come out of Asia. His victory over (Oscar) de la Hoya (in 2008) was the sort of performance that one puts in a time capsule to define a fighter.”

Hauser’s reference to the De la Hoya fight has relevance to Pacquiao’s rivalry with Marquez. The man in charge of De la Hoya’s corner the night he was retired by the Filipino icon was Hall of Famer Nacho Beristain. And Beristain, the 72-year-old guru who has crowned 22 world champions, will be in Marquez’ corner tonight.

The referee in the fight will be Tony Weeks, a Brooklyn native who went to school in Fort Scott, Kansas, and worked in a federal state prison in Tucson, Arizona, as an athletic director.  The judges will be Glenn Trowbridge, Dave Moretti and Robert Hoyle. None of the judges was assigned in either of the previous two fights involving Pacquiao and Marquez.

In Pacquiao’s last setback, Moretti was a judge. He scored it 115-113 for Morales, the same count as the other judges Paul Smith and Chuck Giampa. Moretti and Trowbridge were also judges in Pacquiao’s win over Mosley last May. Hoyle had never been assigned to work a Pacquiao fight. He was a judge in Marquez’ ninth round stoppage of Michael Katsidis last November. Moretti was in the panel when Marquez lost a decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2009. Last year, Trowbridge delivered the most generous score in Marquez’ favor, 118-110, when the Mexican outpointed Juan Diaz. The other scores were 116-112 and 117-111.

The closest anyone has come to beating Pacquiao since the Morales loss was Marquez in 2008. Pacquiao eked out a split 12-round decision over Marquez in their rematch on scores of 114-113 from Tom Miller, 115-112 from Duane Ford and 112-115 from Jerry Roth. Marquez claimed he was robbed of a win despite taking a mandatory eight-count in the third round.

Marquez, 38, has posted a 5-1 record since losing to Pacquiao. The only stain was the loss to Mayweather. Pacquiao, on the other hand, has gone 7-0. The consensus is if there’s a fighter out there with even a ghost of a chance to beat Pacquiao, it has to be Marquez.

But Pacquiao’s reputation is as unsinkable as his magnificence in the ring regardless of Marquez’ threat. “Pacquiao may go down in history as one of the following: the greatest southpaw of all time, the greatest Filipino fighter of all time or the most important fighter since the Muhammad Ali era,” wrote Don Stradley in The Ring Magazine (October 2010). “He’s done it with a blazingly fast left hand, great footwork, a determination to win that is above anyone else’s in the game and a willingness to improve his technique. Watching him go from being an awkward, free-swinging knockout artist of the early 2000s to the crafty ring stylist we see today has been one of the greatest pleasures a fight journalist could experience.”