ALTHOUGH he dominated Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley in their third fight at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas last Sunday (Manila time), Manny Pacquiao, to us, has clearly had slowed down. His punches, while still strong, lacked the sting of the devastating ones that ripped into Britain’s Ricky Hatton, re-arranged the pretty face of Oscar de la Hoya, battered Miguel Cotto and mauled Antonio Margarito.
Manny appeared to have lost a fraction of his hand-speed and his footwork, and could not keep the pressure up for a full three minutes in each round, like he did against such Mexican greats as Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik “El Terrible” Morales and Chicago’s David Diaz.
Against Bradley, Pacquiao was aggressive in stretches and couldn’t engage “Desert Storm” Bradley in a sustained aggressive mode.
We sincerely believe that unless he is able to wangle a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr., who beat him in their May 2 “Fight of the Century,” which was a disappointment after Manny aggravated a rotator cuff tear in his right shoulder which necessitated surgery some five days later, Pacquiao should, as he himself announced, hang up his gloves.
A fight against the unbeaten Mayweather, confident that he could beat Pacquiao again after he watched the Bradley fight, which he claimed was a draw in a ridiculous assessment of the 116-110 result on the scorecards of all three respected judges, may have been a ploy to light a fire in terms of interest in a rematch after Floyd himself retired after a win over Andre Berto. Mayweather is one win away from breaking the 49-0 record of former heavyweight champion, the late Rocky Marciano and reigned as pound-for-pound king for sometime and may go for the record.
If Pacquiao ever fights again, it should be Mayweather and nobody else because with his apparently healed shoulder, Manny could carry the fight to Floyd, although with Mayweather’s control over the Las Vegas environment, including the Nevada State Athletic Commission, the bookmakers and the judges and referees won’t make it easy.
But the money will be good and if they are able, with some astute promotional hype push the pay-per-view numbers to even 50 percent of the 4.5 million record breaking buys in their first fight, it may be well worth the effort.
Pacquiao was said to have earned $150 million in the “Fight of the Century,” although Mayweather himself and some of his people don’t believe Pacquiao collected that much and blamed Top Rank promoter for this.
Any plans of fighting unbeaten, young light welterweight champion Terence Crawford, who has a record of 20 knockouts in 28 wins would be a major risk.
Crawford is young, quick with both hands and on his feet, has power in either hand and is a hungry fighter waiting for the recognition that a Pacquiao fight will bring.
It’s best for Manny to concentrate on his senatorial campaign, where he is rating in the Top 10 in the various surveys, which points to a victory in May.
Should that happen, as we hope it will, then Manny must pay full attention to his nationwide constituency, unlike what he didn’t do in his two terms as a congressman from Sarangani province, most especially since he has ambitions of running for president in 2022.