The Pac Man Cometh

Manny Pacquiao is a bad, bad man. Some think he’s overrated. Some think he’s the best fighter since Sugar Ray Robinson.

I disagree on both accounts, but that still doesn’t change the fact that he has left a field of devastation in his wake.

The world of boxing has been raped and pillaged by this man for the last ~8 years.

Since his last loss (a razor thin unanimous decision loss to Erik Morales on 3/19/2005) Pacquiao has gone 13-0 with seven knockouts. Two of those KO’s sent a borderline Boxing Hall of Famer (Ricky Hatton) and a first ballot, 100% guaranteed, HOFer (Oscar De La Hoya) into retirement in extremely violent fashion.

His fight against Miguel Cotto (whom I did think he was going to beat, but not in the way it happened) was just plain hard to watch. With a gathering of people at my house, including some Puerto Rican friends, all of us were pleading with the ref (aka the TV) to stop the fight. Even Manny had looked at the ref on several occasions in effect saying, “Don’t you think he’s had enough?” He took a man that any boxing fan would describe as a warrior and one of the hardest men in the whole sport and he bludgeoned him. My wife, who enjoys boxing, but is a novice, was disheartened by the referee not stopping the fight. She was covering her face with her hands off and on for the last three rounds of the fight. With blood streaming from at least three different spots on Cotto’s face referee Kenny Bayless finally gave the mercy call in the 12th and final round (a little late in my opinion).

The crowd watching at my house resembled the crowd of British civilians watching William Wallace get tortured, begging for his mercy. That’s a Braveheart reference. If you haven’t seen the movie, you should!

Now on May 7, 2011 Shane Mosley is going to be the next to try and break through Pacquiao’s armor (which appears to be nearly indestructible at this point).

It’s not to say that Manny can’t lose, he can and has lost before, it’s just when you look at his body of work since his last loss and how he has performed under the tutelage of Freddie Roach it’s hard to imagine.

As a fan first, I pray that Sugar Shane can muster even a small amount of his old self. Just a little of what he had against Oscar De La Hoya or even against Antonio Margarito (whom he destroyed).

If Mosley goes into that ring like he did against Sergio Mora? Pacquiao will beat him into a bloody pulp.

I don’t want another Cotto-Pacquiao, which was hard enough to watch just once.

We’ll find out May 7.