Originally posted by DesiDez:
1) ohh yes 8 division titles in 8 different weight classes is not much of an accomplishment at all, considering all the of the other boxers in history who have done it. yeah 
Geez, relax guy, I'm talking about this specific title. All the other titles were well deserved probably. But this one? Come on! Margarito has been s**t at Jr. Middleweight. What makes him a contender for a title shot at that weight? Title shots should be against legitimate opponents at said weight class IMO. Like I said, Manny would probably box the pants off of all the other 154 lb. title holders anyway, but Margo has beat nobody of note at that weight class.
It's obvious there was a movement to get Manny his eighth title. Otherwise, why not just have him defend his welterweight title against Margo? The weightclass where Margo has had plenty of success, and is actually considered a contender.
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2) ohh yes, Sergio Martinez is the one fighter that will elevate Manny's status. Look at the list of nobodies on Manny's resume: Morales, Barrera, Marquez, De La Hoya, Hatton, Cotto, and Margarito. Yes, Sergio Martinez would be the most accomplished fighter on Manny's resume. Why stop there? Let's get Lucian Bute, and Andre Ward. Hell, let's throw Manny through the Super 6. Maybe Hopkins will fight him too. Hey Vladimir and Vitale, I think you should fight Manny. Yes, let's have a guy who's maxed out his body at 145lbs continue pushing his body because I'm a hater.
But back to Martinez, this guy would be a perfect opponent considering he already lost to Margarito and got a draw versus the P4P king, Kermit Cintron.
Barrera, Morales, cool. Pretty damn legit, good job Pac, though Morales did best him once for whatever that's worth.
Marquez... you could say Pacquiao got a gift there... plenty of people think so.
De La Hoya fooled me, but all things considered, age, fighting at a weight he hasn't had to make in 7 years prior to facing Pac... I think we can agree that wasn't the best version of De La Hoya that Pac went up against. All credit given to Pac though, it was a huge jump in weight and it showed he could hang with a big guy.... but after that everything is too predictable. Let me just get this out of the way now... footwork. The rest of his opponents don't have it.
Hatton, after getting KO'd by Mayweather(not exactly known as a KO artist) and before facing Manny, nearly got put out by the legendary Juan Lazcano, and if it wasn't for some divine intervention, Lazcano should have walked away with a KO victory. By this time the size difference between Ricky and Manny is non-existent, it wasn't a matter of if Manny could KO Ricky, it was a matter of when. Obviously it happened sooner than most of us anticipated.
Cotto may or may not have been softened up by a couple of bricks. Who knows? But the blueprint to beating him was there. Margarito exposed it, and the great offensive superstar Joshua Clottey followed thru with it. The fight was in Clottey's hands, but for god knows what reason, Clottey let up the attack and let Cotto off the hook. Even so, Cotto got the victory thanks to some hometown cooking. Lack of footwork and minimal size advantage told me the Pacquiao/Cotto fight would play out exactly like it did.
Don't need to mention Clottey.
Margarito... well dude is slow as f**k! If you didn't know that then I guess you haven't been following his career. And Manny has the best footwork in the bizz. Let's not act dumb and pretend like we don't know what Manny is capable of. Regardless of Margarito's size, the fight was tailor-made for Manny to showcase his talents. There was a reason the odds were 6:1 in Manny's favor.
Everyone after DLH was cherrypicked. Mosley, a more deserving opponent at the time, begged Pacquiao for a fight, s**t he was willing to fight him for almost free. But instead they picked a smaller, war-torn Cotto. I'm guessing Mosley's iron chin and that bit of power he packs may have had a little something to do with their decision to avoid him. Not to mention Roach himself admitted this.
But back to
Martinez, this guy would be a perfect opponent considering he already lost to Margarito
10 YEARS AGO and got a draw versus the P4P king, Kermit Cintron who's only two losses (not counting the Williams debacle) came at welterweight against a top welterweight named Antonio Margarito.
Yeah let's just go ahead and act like Kermit Cintron isn't ranked #2 in the Jr. Middleweight division. Let's pretend he's just some pushover.
Also, while we're at it... let's pretend that Martinez's loss to Margarito didn't occur
2 years after he commenced his boxing career. Let's pretend Margarito wasn't a 6 year vet at that time.
Let's just keep pretending shall we? Let's pretend that Martinez isn't a Top 10 ranked P4P fighter. Because, you know, he must be the same guy Margarito beat
a decade ago. Because, you know, he didn't take it the distance a year ago with another Top 10 P4P fighter named Paul Williams in a fight that many thought he deserved to win. Because, you know, he didn't just go up to Middleweight and outbox Kelly Pavlik for the Middleweight title as an undersized fighter.
You're right, Martinez is extremely underqualified, Manny shouldn't even bother... his great footwork poses no challenge to the Pac Man, because the last fighter that Manny faced with decent footwork, one Juan Manuel Marquez, posed no threat at all. Manny wiped the floor with him, he hit him at will and JMM couldn't even touch him. The most lopsided beating Manny Pacquiao has ever dished out! He came out unscathed with nary a bruise on his face!
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3) I hope you realize Manny just fought a guy who's 5 inches taller and weighed almost 20 lbs heavier on fight night. There's a reason weight classes in boxing, wrestling, MMA exist.
So what would be the problem with fighting Martinez? He's 1 inch shorter than Margarito and weighed only 3 more pounds than Margarito did last night when he fought Pavlik at Middleweight. I'm pretty sure if he were to fight Manny at Jr. Middleweight he'd come in about the same weight as Margarito or most likely lighter.
Oh, I see what the problem is. He would actually pose a real threat. Yeah, we would never want that. Nah, all the fans much prefer tailor-made opponents.
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But anyways congrats to the Catchweight King Pacquiao. Its not like Henry Armstrong, Ray Robinson, Ray Leonard, Hearns, JCC, Oscar DLH, Roy Jones, or Hopkins ever fought catchweights. All of these boxers have never asked for catchweight, never. These are real boxers.
Hmm... nice list there, but I don't recall mentioning anything about the catchweight in my original post.
I'm pretty sure my gripe was with him winning a title against an opponent that has no business getting a title shot at that weight class.
So forgive me for suggesting that Manny fight a real challenge for a 154 lb. title match. I didn't know that would be an offensive remark. We gotta make sure Pacquiao keeps having favorable matchups and keeps collecting more belts at higher weight classes! Let's bulk Margarito and Cotto up a couple more pounds and find a vacant Middleweight title that Pacquiao can fight them for! That's what we fans wanna see!
[ Edited by silkyjohnson on Nov 14, 2010 at 9:56 AM ]
