By Lou Block
It is true that Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao has ducked a lot of boxers on his move up in weight. This is something that many casual fans of The Pacman have no idea about because they only started following Manny when he first appeared on HBO 24/7 against Oscar De La Hoya a handpicked, big name, opponent who was weight drained.
When Manny Pacquiao was at super featherweight (130 pounds) he only fought a washed up Erik Morales, Past it Marco Antonio Barrera, and Juan Manuel Marquez hoping he aged overnight. Manny also fought Oscar Larios who was coming up from 122 pounds to 130 pounds and Larios almost knocked Pacman out. Manny couldn’t even knock out a former super bantamweight, and people are insulting Floyd Mayweather Jr. for fighting Juan Manuel Marquez? But Manny cherry picked a smaller guy and almost got his ass kicked? c’mon what a joke.
The main fighters that Pacquiao ducked and avoided at super featherweight were undefeated slick black Dominican boxer Joan Guzman and a very tough Mexican Humberto Soto, both of those guys ended up fighting each other and Guzman won the fight by out slicking Soto. At the time Guzman was trained by one of the greatest boxing minds around Floyd Mayweather Sr. and Floyd and Guzman were calling Manny Pacquiao out but Manny never accepted the challenge, this was in 2007. Guzman in his prime was a very slick black fighter, so similar to Floyd Mayweather with his slick hit and not get hit style.
Watch the 2007 interview here at 2:19 Floyd Sr. discusses Guzman’s chances against Pacquiao
In 2008, when Manny was set to go up in weight to the lightweight (135 pounds) division to try and capture another world title in a different weight class he chose the paper champion David Diaz. The fight that all the boxing fans wanted to see was Manny Pacquiao versus the newly crowned unified lightweight champion Nate Campbell who beat up Juan Diaz for the belts giving him his first loss. A real old school boxer who is concerned with his legacy would have fought Nate Campbell because he was the real champion at lightweight. Pacquiao again avoided a slick black fighter.
After Manny defeated David Diaz to capture the WBC title, he fought Oscar De La Hoya and forced Oscar to drain himself to 147 instead of fighting him at a more reasonable 150 pounds catchweight. The win versus Oscar was a hollow victory, all it was is another name to pad Pacquiao’s record.
Shane Mosley beat up Antonio Margarito and called out Manny Pacquiao but Freddie Roach and Manny wanted no part of a guy like Mosley coming off a vicious knockout win over the most feared fighter at the time Antonio Margarito.
Here is the exact quote from Freddie Roach:
“Shane came to the gym twice to ask me to let him fight Manny,” Roach says. “I told him no both times, and both times for the same two reasons: First, there isn’t enough money there, and second, you’re too good a fighter.” (Source: LA Times)
Roach knew that Mosley would beat up Manny Pacquiao back then. So they fought guys like Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto at catchweight, and Joshua Clottey because they were less dangerous.
When the Floyd Mayweather Jr fight didn’t get made for a second time, Manny could have fought undefeated African-American boxer Timothy Bradley but Pacquiao and his people picked the suspended cheater Antonio Margarito instead. Margarito without his loaded handwraps was nothing and an easy fight for Pacquiao.
Now, Pacquiao picked an old past his prime Sugar Shane Mosley to fight instead of fighting the WBC champion Andre Berto to unify the welterweight belts.
Look at the pattern here. Manny Pacquiao and his people only pick fights they know they can win. Roach only agrees to fight Mosley now because he is washed up and looked horrible. They also have a pattern of avoiding slick black fighters. This has been brought up by Bernard Hopkins and other boxing fans before. It’s not something made up, it’s a fact, Manny has never fought a slick black fighter. I proved it in this article, he has avoided all the slick black fighters on his way up in weight. Joan Guzman, Nate Campbell, Shane Mosley after he destroyed Margarito, Floyd Mayweather by not taking Olympic style drug testing, Timothy Bradley, and Andre Berto.
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