By Henry Badeau
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I know for many of us boxing fans it is hard to admit that boxing is not what it once was. Boxing’s heavyweight division died a few years ago and now all of the champions are European and the majority of heavyweights are fat slobs who couldn’t even pass a high school physical fitness test.
Boxing started to lose steam in the early to mid 2000’s and the UFC or Mixed Martial Arts(MMA) began to take over. The UFC came in at the right time when Mike Tyson left boxing and Lennox Lewis was gone. For many UFC filled the void for those casual boxing fans who only wanted to see the brutal scary Mike Tyson fight in the ring.
UFC has many fighters who will please those type of fans who just want a bloody fight between big scary looking guys. But UFC also gives those fans the fights they want to see.
Now a boxer has captured the public’s imagination once again not because of a scary thug like demeanor but because of his class inside and outside the boxing ring, Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao is his name.
Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao has carried the sport of boxing out of the doll drums and has given it some added respectability and class until the Mayweather family blatantly tried to ruin his good name with steroids accusations out of jealousy.
On an international scale Manny Pacquiao is more famous than any UFC fighter and possibly any current boxing champion today.
Manny Pacquiao has won fans from different races and ethnicity because of his aggressive crowd pleasing fight style and humble friendly nature outside of the ring.
UFC president Dana White has stated many times that Manny Pacquiao is his favorite fighter to watch right now, and a slew of other UFC and MMA fighters are huge fans of the Pacman because they respect him as a fighter because he fights anyone they put in front of him, it shows if Boxing had a dozen more Manny Pacquiao’s it would be huge once again.
Pacquiao also has many celebrity fans from sports stars to movie stars, like Kobe Bryant, Mark Wahlberg, Ron Artest, Laker owner Jerry Buss, Mickey Rourke, Sylvester Stallone, the list goes on.
If boxing had more guys who fought fan friendly fights and didn’t duck fights like Floyd Mayweather Jr. has done recently to preserve his undefeated record, then boxing would be big once again.
Watch Manny Pacquiao in action
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