By Chuy Marco
It’s downright embarrassing for the so called pound-4-pound king of boxing, Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, to fight over the hill fighters. How can you call yourself a pound-4-pound king if you don’t take on a tough challenge or prime fighter?
Floyd Mayweather Jr. has come out of semi-retirement to fight WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz, a fighter who is vicious, young, and hungry. Ortiz is coming off an impressive victory over Andre Berto. Floyd could have picked some scrub to fight as a tune-up but that isn’t Mayweather’s style, he only wants to fight someone who is a challenge and people claim is the best — as long as they fight on even terms and not taking steroids or HGH.
Now you got Erik Morales, a fighter that many people counted out against Marcos Maidana, because people said Erik was washed up or a dead man, but he proved those people wrong! Morales was the last man to defeat Manny Pacquiao and in two rematches with Pacquiao he would have beat him if Pacquiao allowed the fight to be at a catchweight of 133 pounds instead of draining Morales at 130 pounds.
Morales and Mayweather have more guts than Manny Pacquiao, but everyone is riding the Pacman bandwagon and giving him credit as this bad ass fighter who beats up on giants. Yes, Manny Pacquiao beats up on bigger men, but all of those men were slow or past their prime. Isn’t the pound-4-pound best boxer in the world supposed to be the one who is taking on the toughest challengers out there? Pacquiao doesn’t fit the bill as a pound-4-pound king if that’s the case. In my eyes a pound-4-pound king isn’t supposed to cherry pick opponents.
I think that Pacquiao is the most overrated boxer today. I think the reason the media loves him and the people love him is because he is something exotic or unique. They like the novelty factor of this Tattoo lookalike from Fantasy Island beating up on bigger men like David vs. Goliath. Real boxing fans know that those big guys are tough but they are not fighting Manny on equal terms, so how is it a fair fight if they have to fight on his terms and catchweights?
Erik Morales might not be in his prime but he is doing something that Manny Pacquiao isn’t doing, he is taking on tougher, younger, and dangerous prime fighters like Marcos Maidana and on September 17, 2011 he is fighting the hard hitting Lucas Matthysse for the vacant WBC 140-pound title on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather vs. Victor Ortz. Manny Pacquiao wouldn’t dare fight live opponents like Maidana or Matthysse. Win, lose, or draw, Erik Morales is a real fighter and gets my respect for wanting to challenge himself against the best because he knows in order to be the best you must beat the best and that is something that Manny Pacquiao won’t do.
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Big time boxing fan. Grew up in East Los, and been an avid follower of the sport and the legends like Julio Cesar Chavez, Vicente Saldivar, Salvador Sanchez, Carlos Zarate, Erik Morales, Ricardo Lopez and Juan Manuel Marquez just to name a few.
Current favorite boxers: Canelo Alvarez, Mikey Garcia.