Pacman wins close one

...and still WBO Welterweight champion of the World......

Manny "the Pacman" Pacquiao

Manny Pacquiao fought the fight of his life as he narrowly beat the one person who has got him figured out - Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico. A lot of Filipinos were disappointed and dismayed with the outcome with a lot also claiming that Marquez have actually won. That they say is the problem with the Filipinos not realizing that in boxing, like basketball there are nights when a team cannot figure out one specific team that has got his moves figured out. In all his opponents, the counterpunching of Marquez has definitely been the achilles heel of Pacquiao.

Pacquiao has never lost to Marquez

but Marquez thinks he won all three

But then again, Marquez was just waiting for Pacquiao to make a mistake. Pacquiao was the aggressor most of the time which Marquez liked because every time Pacquiao would land something he makes it a point to retaliate with what he has got. But then again, the good thing with Pacquiao is that he makes it a point to land a lot of punches that would eventually augur well in the judges scorecards specially when there is no clear winner in a round.

The scores courtesy of

the badlefthook.com

Nevada Athletic Commission Judge Robert Hoyle had Marquez leading after 10 rounds and but gave the final 2 rounds to Pacquiao for the Sarangani Congressman to level up and draw 114 - 114. Judge Dave Moretti on the other hand had Marquez leading after 7 rounds but gave Pacquiao four of the last five rounds for a 115 - 113 score in Pacquiao's favor. The third judge Glen Towbridge had Pacquiao leading all the way enroute to a 116 - 112 score. The result of the cards saw Pacquiao win via Majority decision. Imagine the three bouts, a draw, a split decision and a majority decision, thats' how close this trilogy has come to. Another Nevada device, the Compubox which counts down punches thrown, landed and other stuff had Pacquiao connecting 176 punches to Marquez's 138 with the Pacman connecting on 117 power punches to the Mexican's 100. Either way, the experts saw that Pacquiao was the aggressor and the one landing most of the punches thus the win.

Nevada's Compubox scores

The win was disappointing to a lot of Pacquiao fans. From the Pacman's last fight against Marquez, he has won convincingly against David Diaz, Oscar dela Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley. That was why while hearing Pacquiao train harder and his camp predicting a knock out, most of his fans were happy he won but were disappointed with the way he got the win. Bottomline, a win is a win and a lot of Americans who are not on the side of the Pacman where justifying the scores and why Pacquiao won, why can't we as Filipinos accept that move on. So what's next with the Pacman, we'll see.

Manny secures 8th Title

Manny, The Challenger

First round was the feeling up stage which gave both fighters ample time to size up each other. But then Manny Pacquiao, the fighting pride of the Filipino people poured it on, there was no stopping him. In the first round Antonio Margarito was a very determined fighter and engaged Manny in a toe to toe fight as he landed the most number of punches anyone has landed on Manny. On the other hand, Manny's lightning speed was so blinding that by the end of the third round it has created a cut under Margarito's right eye.

Manny connects

From thereon Manny Pacquiao battered Margarito at will. Since Margarito was bigger than Manny it was hard for Manny to knock out the Tijuana Tornado but had a chance at the end of the tenth round when Margarito was battered once again by a series of punches by Pacquiao that saw the Mexican writhe in pain and look ready to go down. Unfortunately the bell saved him. In the 11th round Margarito's attention was called by the referee to see if the boxer can still see. The fight continue and Margarito held on to end the fight.

Antonio Maga-Rito

The three judges gave the Fighting southpaw congressman a unanimous win with the scores, 120-108, 118-110, 119-109. Margarito was never in the fight. Pacquiao landed a total of 401 punches on the face of Margarito while he received only 167 punches. This win gives Manny Pacquiao the Super Welterweight title held by Margarito. He now owns 8 world titles on 8 different weight classifications - the only fighter to have done so. So what's next with Manny, I think its time to bring on the motor mouthed American to really see who is the best pound for pound which is the fight that everyone wants to see.

This shows how many shots Manny landed

Manny wins in boring fight

If Manny Pacquiao is not the biggest draw in Boxing then who is? Floyd? Nope not even close. 50,994 people attended the Manny Pacquiao - Joshua Clottey fight to witness the best fighter pound for pound in the world. The almost 51 thousand people in attendance ranks as the third biggest crowd in the United States to witness a boxing match and all these spectators were there to watch the most exciting boxer in the world who happens to be a Filipino.

Manny Pacquiao had a hard time shaking off the defense of Joshua Clottey who looked like a turtle in hiatus during the fight. Waiting for the right time to unleash his awesome power, Clottey never really got going and was already behind on points when his corner advised him to take a gamble. Unfortunately, Manny Pacquiao was all business as his trigger happy nature gave him at least 100 punches thrown per round. In the end, Clottey's defense stuck but his offense suffered. In the end you cannot even distinguish his color from the black eye he sustained.

Highlights of the event for me was the singing of the National Athem. Journey lead singer Arnel Pineda gave a good account of his version of Lupang Hiniraing, the Philippine National Anthem. What gave me much interest was the rendition of the three Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders of the Star Spangled Banner. It was quite cute and moving considering I was looking at them more than listening to them sing the anthem as cutely as possible as television crew showed more cleavage than stars on the american flag. That made me wish for more fights at the Cowboys stadium in Dallas.

After the fight, Manny was interviewed and when he was asked regarding a possible match against Floyd Mayweather he said " I want that fight! The world wants that fight, but its up to him I am ready to fight anytime!" So lets wait and see when that fight will push through, but for Manny its campaign time once again.

Pacquiao punches his way into the history books

Tried this new function of ESPN.com. I registered and shared this link and story of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto fight. Just click the link below for ESPN's story of the fight.

Pacquiao punches his way into the history books

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LA DIVA Sing Philippine National Anthem

Besides the Manny Pacquiao fight, one of the most highly anticipated things in all his fights is who and how the Philippine National Anthem will be sung. Memorable renditions were delivered by Lani Misalucha in the Pacman-Morales 2 fight, Sarah Geronimo in the Pacman-Morales 3 fight, Kyla in the Pacman-Barrera 2 fight. Other singers sang their own versions before and the most controversial one was done by Martin Nievera in the Pacquiao-Hatton Fight.

Maricris, Jonalyn & Aicelle

LA DIVA

This time the PACMAN brought something new to the table and he personally handpicked not only one but three singing champions to sing the national anthem. Jonalyn Viray, Maricris Garcia and Aicelle Santos. Jonalyn was the Grand Winner of the first Pinoy Pop Superstar competition while Maricris was the Grand winner of the 3rd Pinoy Pop Superstar. Aicelle on the other hand was the first runner up of the 2nd Grand Finals. The three Pop superstars brought class and glamour to the event as they came dressed in modern Terno dresses which showed the Philippine Tri-colors. Jonalyn who sang soprano was in red Maricris the mezzo-soprano was in yellow while the gorgeous alto Aicelle wore blue. Except for the last second choke while holding a long note croak, the rendition was quite okay.

The Only One

Relentless. That is the only description of what Manny Pacquiao did to his latest ring victim, Miguel Cotto. Cotto was picked to fight Pacquiao because of his reputation as a tough hard punching natural welterweight. Cotto was what the doctor ordered and what fight fans were waiting for as he engaged Manny Pacquiao in a toe to mano a mano classic boxing match. Cotto was strong and good but Manny's blinding speed and awesome power was evident which gave Pacquiao a 12th round technical knock out. Pacquiao added the WBO Welterweight Title to his six other titles. Manny has previously won the (1) WBC World Flyweight Title (106 lbs), the (2) WBC, WBO & IBF Super Bantamweight Title (119 lbs) , (3) Ring Magazine Featherweight Title (126 lbs) (4) WBC Super Featherweight title (130 Lbs), (5) WBC Lightweight TItle, (6) IBO and Ring Magazine Light Welterweight Title (140 lbs).

The question once is again is who's next? Sugar Shane Mosley or Floyd Mayweather are good candidates for the Pacman to relentlessly punish. Winning titles in six weight classes is already an achievement! Winning a seventh title puts him a cut above the rest. Manny Pacquiao can now say that he is THE ONLY ONE!

Manny floors the hitman

Now it shows, Floyd Mayweather Sr. is the best trainer in the world but Freddie Roach is the best i the Universe.  In what was billed as the fight of the year turned out to be another mismatch of the year.  All that talk on Ricky Hatton being that great as an undefeated champion went down the drain after two rounds!. Yes only two rounds. In the first round Hatton already kissed the canvass twice and was stunned again in the second round that forced the referee to call it quits. In this fight Ricky is definitely the hitman since he was hit most of the time.

Congratulations Manny, now it can be said without any hesitation that you are the best fighter in the World pound for pound.

Congratulations Manny Pacquiao

I have been a fan of Oscar dela Hoya since he came out in the 90's, but today the whole Philippine nation shrugged that aside including me to support the one and only "Pambansang Kamao" in their fight dubbed as Dream match! Before the event a lot of boxing experts were saying that Manny cannot withstand the strong punches of Oscar since dela Hoya who is a natural middleweight. Unfortunately for them it was the other way around, Manny's speed and strength got him the win. Manny's punches were in and out before Oscar even saw it. He made sure that his best asset which is his speed and barrage of punches will be what dela Hoya will face. True enough, Oscar quit the fight by the start of the Ninth round as his size cannot neutralize Manny's speed and strength. It seems like Oscar never really did hurt Manny. Congratulations Manny, you have proven time and again that you are the best boxer pound for pound in the planet. So who's next?

Manny Pacquiao knocks out Diaz in 9th round

It was like game 6 of the Celtics vs. Lakers series, everyone was anticipating a brawl that had both protagonists slug it out “mano a mano,” unfortunately the bout ended in a rout. Manny “the Pacman” Pacquiao was the aggressor the whole bout as he pummeled WBC Lightweight champion David Diaz for eight rounds until he finally knocked him out by the ninth round. You can liken Diaz to a punching bag as he was like a steady immovable force in the middle, that’s why Pacquiao had an easier time hitting him. Diaz in an interview after said that it was Pacquiao’s speed that got him. He said that he can see the punches, unfortunately "It was all his speed. I could see the punches perfectly but he was just too fast. In the meantime, kudos to David Diaz, with Pacquiao hitting him hard from the first quarter, he had the heart to stay in the game until his disastrous 9^th round surrender. In the end, you could not even distinguish him from cartoon hero Shrek! It was said that Pacquiao was ahead on the judges scorecards in all 9 rounds!

Experts said that Pacquiao three 788 punches to Diaz's 463. Pacquiao's jab was a thing of beauty and his boxing skills has immensely improved since coming out as a 106 pound brawler 13 years ago. Pacquiao's 180 power shots connected hurt the champion the most and eventually these power shots took its toll on Diaz.

In winning this bout, the Pacman added the Lightweight title to his list of accomplishments that makes him the first Asian to win four World Titles in Four different weight classes namely the Flyweight (112 llbs), Junior Featherweight (122 lbs) and Junior lightweight crown (130 lbs).

Imagine that in his first bout as a lightweight he made mincemeat of the champion- the question now is who’s next. Congratulations Manny Pacquiao, THE FILIPINO NATION IS VERY PROUD OF THE YOU!

Good Luck Manny!

Good luck Manny Pacquiao, the whole Philippines is behind you!