Manny Pacquiao: the Savior of boxing?

[elmersalsa]

Will this great little fighter be the savior of the sport? A sport that its game is in decline and not as popular as it used to be?

[ringsider]

Not a chance.....real boxing fans don't look to south paws to save anything. Wake up....

Maybe the scourge of boxing.

[Big Bad John]

His last fight was a bomb in terms of buyrate and gate. Floyd Mayweather drew better fighting Zab Judah, who was coming off a loss. And let's not forget that Pacquiao's English sucks. During most of their respective primes, Duran and Chavez weren't crossover stars in America.

[Robinson]

From what a work colleague said about the Pacman is that he
is extremely well loved in the Phillipines and other parts of
SE Asia. He may not be that popular in the US, but I am sure
that abroad he is. One thing for sure is that he has fight in
him and he is fun to watch.

[Diamond WEAPON]

There's no such thing as one saviour of boxing. It takes a number of things to keep boxing lucrative and relevant. Good network deals and good matches between top talent being key among those elements. For instance, the trio of Lightweight matchups in Diaz-Katsidis, Campbell-Guzman, and Casamayor-Marquez.

[Robinson]

Imagine if boxing was on free to air TV...

here in Australia nearly EVERY sport has its
own spot on TV...from lawn bowls to darts...
yet boxing....nothing

[Ezzard]

I think Pac should be recognised as the boxer of the 2000's.

How big a draw or what language he speaks shouldn't matter but it probably will in the end.

[ManchesterMexican]

i think hatton would snap him in half!

[Big Bad John]

I think Pac should be recognised as the boxer of the 2000's.

Laughable. Mayweather fought better fighters, and he didn't lose to them. Pacquiao beat a couple of REALLY old featherweights, and let's be honest. Two out of three of them beat him. Floyd Mayweather's the boxer OF THE 2000s, and it's stupid to imply otherwise at this point.

How big a draw or what language he speaks shouldn't matter but it probably will in the end.

Well, we're talking about him being the "savior" of boxing. How can he "save" boxing if he can't draw 1/5 as much as the top stars of recent years, like Mayweather, De la Hoya and Lewis?

[elmersalsa]

I think Pac should be recognised as the boxer of the 2000's.

Laughable. Mayweather fought better fighters, and he didn't lose to them. Pacquiao beat a couple of REALLY old featherweights, and let's be honest. Two out of three of them beat him. Floyd Mayweather's the boxer OF THE 2000s, and it's stupid to imply otherwise at this point.

How big a draw or what language he speaks shouldn't matter but it probably will in the end.

Well, we're talking about him being the "savior" of boxing. How can he "save" boxing if he can't draw 1/5 as much as the top stars of recent years, like Mayweather, De la Hoya and Lewis?

DeLahoya, Lewis nor Mayweather are not as exciting as Pacquiao. Is there is a boxer that is worthy of seeing fight is Manny. He is making a believer of a lot of people.

[My2Sense]

I think Pac should be recognised as the boxer of the 2000's.

Laughable. Mayweather fought better fighters, and he didn't lose to them. Pacquiao beat a couple of REALLY old featherweights, and let's be honest. Two out of three of them beat him. Floyd Mayweather's the boxer OF THE 2000s, and it's stupid to imply otherwise at this point.

Only DeLaHoya has a serious claim to being better than Barrera, Morales, or Marquez. Corrales, Castillo, Judah, and Hatton do not.

And several of those fights Mayweather won happened when the opponent was above his best weight and/or past his prime as well. And it can just as easily be argued that Castillo beat him the first time too.

[dempseyfire]

Morales, Marquez, Barrera, Sasakul are overall superior to Floyd's best scalps (Oscar, Castillo, Hatton, Casamayor) and I don't believe Floyd 'beat' Oscar by any measure in their fight. Floyd has more quality names on his resume but if Pacquao keeps beating the top lightweights and Hatton he'll definitely surpass Floyd.

[Big Bad John]

DeLahoya, Lewis nor Mayweather are not as exciting as Pacquiao. Is there is a boxer that is worthy of seeing fight is Manny. He is making a believer of a lot of people.

Tell the truth. Did you buy his last pay-per-view? I sure as hell didn't. Mayweather comfortably drew five or six times as many buys in his last two pay-per-views, and neither was against a top-4 or -5 fighter in the division.

[Ezzard]

I think Pac should be recognised as the boxer of the 2000's.

Laughable. Mayweather fought better fighters, and he didn't lose to them. Pacquiao beat a couple of REALLY old featherweights, and let's be honest. Two out of three of them beat him. Floyd Mayweather's the boxer OF THE 2000s, and it's stupid to imply otherwise at this point.

How big a draw or what language he speaks shouldn't matter but it probably will in the end.

Well, we're talking about him being the "savior" of boxing. How can he "save" boxing if he can't draw 1/5 as much as the top stars of recent years, like Mayweather, De la Hoya and Lewis?

I don't agree that Mayweather fought better fighters. IMO he beat lesser fighters, often more convincingly.

IMO, if Pac was American and spoke English he'd be both the p4p number 1 and the saviour of boxing. He's a more exciting fighter than Floyd. And he's out there trying to make it happen rather than retiring after every fight and getting mixed up in showbiz wrestling or whatever that pantomime is...

[Poncey]

Although Pacquiao has beaten a better fighter (Barrera 2003), Mayweather probably has a slightly better resumé at this point, but only because of his last two fights.

Also, PPV numbers aren't an accurate reflection as one fighter could be carrying the load with regards to popularity. DLH was by far the bigger draw and I'd argue Hatton shared it. All the Americans I worked with that watched 24/7 loved his "blue collar" attitude and most of the ones I spoke to at the fight, and afterwards, said they wanted him to win until the Brit dicks started booing the anthem. Plus the fact that the UK numbers were near identical to the US ones.

Manny needs another weight class, and a KO win against Hatton, to beat Floyd's resumé.

[Ezzard]

Mayweather probably has a slightly better resumé at this point, but only because of his last two fights.

Manny needs another weight class, and a KO win against Hatton, to beat Floyd's resumé.

Again I don't agree. I don't see what another weight class has to do with it. Pac is beating more capable fighters than Floyd.

Floyd is a great fighter but at the moment Pac is ahead in my book. I do think it's fair to put Floyd in the frame as there will always be differences of opinion.

[Poncey]

Mayweather probably has a slightly better resumé at this point, but only because of his last two fights.

Manny needs another weight class, and a KO win against Hatton, to beat Floyd's resumé.

Again I don't agree. I don't see what another weight class has to do with it. Pac is beating more capable fighters than Floyd.

Floyd is a great fighter but at the moment Pac is ahead in my book. I do think it's fair to put Floyd in the frame as there will always be differences of opinion.

It comes down to the P4P argument. For me it's travelling up the weight ladders fighting the best in each division and collecting belts along the way.

I also think the Judah and Corrales wins are very, very good for Floyd's record. Especially the latter and it's manner. Pac also didn't beat Marquez last time in my book and I base mine on performance, instead of result.

As you say, there will always be differences in opinion. But as Pacman keeps on winning, the argument for him being the fighter of the decade must get stronger and stronger unless Floyd comes back.

[Big Bad John]

Again, how many of you guys bought Manny Pacquiao's last pay-per-view? How many of you bought Mayweather's last pay-per-view? I'm just curious.

[Poncey]

I went to both of Mayweather's fights last year. Pacman v Diaz was free in the UK.

PPV buy rate doesn't mark how good a fighter is, just how popular they are.

[Ezzard]

Mayweather probably has a slightly better resumé at this point, but only because of his last two fights.

Manny needs another weight class, and a KO win against Hatton, to beat Floyd's resumé.

Again I don't agree. I don't see what another weight class has to do with it. Pac is beating more capable fighters than Floyd.

Floyd is a great fighter but at the moment Pac is ahead in my book. I do think it's fair to put Floyd in the frame as there will always be differences of opinion.

It comes down to the P4P argument. For me it's travelling up the weight ladders fighting the best in each division and collecting belts along the way.

I also think the Judah and Corrales wins are very, very good for Floyd's record. Especially the latter and it's manner. Pac also didn't beat Marquez last time in my book and I base mine on performance, instead of result.

As you say, there will always be differences in opinion. But as Pacman keeps on winning, the argument for him being the fighter of the decade must get stronger and stronger unless Floyd comes back.

All fair points but I'm not sure the Judah win is that great. Good but... If you are going by performance then many think DLH beat Floyd. I gave it Floyd but I didn't come away thinking Floyd proved hismelf superior to DLH.

[ManchesterMexican]

i can see it coming..


haton Vs Pac-man

Hatoon to win by "knockout!!!" 7th round

[babyfaced assassin]

if he beats khan i will respect him and maybe call him that , after he beat barrera i started to like him but he hasent earnt all of my respect yet

[Big Bad John]

Traveling from weight division to weight division, collecting trinkets, never unifying, is sooooo overrated. The one thing Mayweather has on his resume that Pacquiao will never have is complete domination of one weight class, and that was 130. He beat Genaro Hernandez (WBC Champion, ranked #1 at 130 and #12 pound-for-pound by KO magazine), Angel Manfreddy (coming off a win over IBF champion Gatti, ranked #2 behind Floyd at 130), Diego Corrales (IBF champion, ranked #1 at 130 and #4 pound-for-pound by Ring magazine), Carlos Hernandez (future IBF champion) and Jesus Chavez (future WBC champion, future IBF World Lightweight Champion, ranked #4 by Ring magazine, behind only Mayweather and two fighters who refused to get in the ring with Mayweather).

Mayweather basically owned 130, arguably becoming the best ever at that weight. Pacquiao's never done that at any weight.

[dempseyfire]

Pacquao followed the cream of the featherweights up to 130 after he beat drew with Marquez. By beating Marquez, Barrera, and Morales (as well as current interim champ Larios), he essentially defeated the top featherweights of this generation, it's not his fault all of them moved up to 130. So it would have been more impressive for Pacquao to stay at 126 so he could get ducked by Chris John and beat Steve Luevano?

[Big Bad John]

He beat them all when they were past their prime, though. Especially Morales. Barrera was in his prime 8 or 10 years ago, and Marquez is no spring chicken. On top of that, he didn't really beat Marquez in the last match. I thought Marquez deserved the decision.