By Charlie Knoxville
In sports when someone accuses you of steroid or performance enhancement drug usage, that usually means that you are doing something so great that it’s too good to be true.
It means that you are accomplishing feats that no other person in your sport has been able to do and you are doing it in impressive fashion.
That’s what is going on with Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao in boxing. He is so good that his biggest rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. accused him of taking “Power Pellets” even though Manny has never tested positive for drugs or steroids before and for the first time in his career Floyd demanded an opponent to take Olympic style drug tests.
Before Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his family accused Manny Pacquiao of being on the juice, Floyd’s fans never felt Manny was on something, they only started accusing him of being on PED’s when the Mayweather’s did. Now all of a sudden you see plenty of loyal Floyd fan’s on YouTube or writing blogs and posting on message boards defaming Manny’s name and telling him to take the test and already marking him a Guilty man without any proof other than Mayweather’s suspicion.
That’s how you know Manny Pacquiao is a truly great fighter! Because the people who dislike him the most are actually the ones who are impressed with him the most. They can’t seem to stop talking about him, and believe that Manny is so good that he must be on steroids to achieve what he has.
Manny’s rise in weight is more impressive than Floyd Mayweather’s because of the simple fact that Manny is an offensive first fighter and Floyd is a defense first boxer. For a small fighter like Pacman to climb up in weight and go toe to toe with bigger men and still get the better of them in exchanges and dominate almost every round against them is a far more memorable feat than a smaller guy in a shell who covers up, runs back, and is content with just throwing 20 punches a round.
When you are an offensive minded fighter and going up in weight you leave yourself open to get countered or knocked out because you take more chances, a defensive minded fighter who doesn’t sit down on his punches has an easier time when he goes up in weight because he can pot shot and move without leaving himself open to getting knocked out because of his conservative style. When Floyd did try to trade with Shane Mosley he was wobbled twice in the third round by right hands, imagine if Floyd was more offensive? He probably wouldn’t be undefeated, I mean, he almost lost a split decision to Oscar De La Hoya with the few punches he threw, and with like 3 seconds left in the 12th round of that fight Floyd decided to trade with Oscar trying to impress us but instead he got rocked a little bit.
What Manny has done with a purely offensive style is truly something of legend. Floyd hasn’t done anything new, he hasn’t fought big aggressive guys at welterweight like an Antonio Margarito or Miguel Cotto, he is purely defense first with conservative punch output and carefully picks his opponents. I am in no way bashing Floyd’s skill, he is the best all around boxer I’ve seen when he was at 130-135 and fighting the best, but when he went up in weight he has done nothing to prove his greatness, he ducked Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto.
When you take chances you are bound to get hit or even knocked out, Manny winning the way he has while leaving himself open for counters is why people are putting him higher than Floyd. Anyone can cover themselves all night and just pot shot to a decision win, but to really make a statement and impress people you have to take chances. Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Sugar Ray Robinson, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler, all took chances, and Manny Pacquiao is cut from their cloth, I can’t say the same about Floyd Mayweather because he hasn’t fought or beat enough tough legit Welterweights like the Pacman has.
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I am an avid fan of boxing and video games. My first fight of memory was watching Prince Naseem Hamed destroy Kevin Kelly. I enjoy all aspects of the sport. My favorite current boxer is Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao. My favorite boxing match is Diego Corrales vs. Jose Luis Castillo 1. I love watching boxing on Pay-Per-View more than being there live because you can really enjoy and watch the action from the best view.