Was 2009 Manny's Best Year?

[IronDanHamza]

Great year of Pacquaio. Best year he's had in a many.

Two P4P level fighters and destroyed both.

That was a great great year for Pacquaio.

Shame he's had terrible since.

[crold1]

Great year of Pacquaio. Best year he's had in a many.

Two P4P level fighters and destroyed both.

That was a great great year for Pacquaio.

Shame he's had terrible since.

Beating Clottey and Marg wasn't up to par with some other years but it was hardly terrible. Shows how high the bar is raised.

If I could script it, I'd have preferred to see him go Mosley-Cotto-Clottey after Hatton instead of the order he went (well, I'd have preffered May but dealing with who he did fight).

3) 2008

3 wins in 3 different weight classes, Split Decision with Marquez earning 3rd lineal @130, taking a belt @135 againts diaz and crossover victory to super stardom versus dela hoya

This is an interesting year. I'd have preferred he fight Casa or Juan Diaz at 35. David Diaz was a worthless fight; screw the paper title. At the time, I was in the 'only beats Oscar if Oscar is shot camp.' Oscar looked shot, but he looked good enough in 09-10 to make me wonder if he always could have hung with Oscar. He was faster than Oscar ever was, had two hands and showed some of the improv skills against Cotto that Oscar never had. The Manny who beat Oscar and Cotto versus the Oscar who fought in the late 90s would be very interesting.

08 was the most important year of his career, his star making year, and in that sense it will always be one of his best. Narrowly getting by his arch-rival at 30 in another classic and then ending at 47 was impressive even if Diaz and Oscar really weren't (Diaz always, Oscar in retrospect).

[Bushbaby]

Nope. IMO Pacman's best win above 140 was Clottey. The rest needed stipulations of some kind to make the fights happen. (Except for Mosley), who his team wouldn't go near after he trottled Margarito at a catchweight of 142 shameful $h!t.

[IronDanHamza]

Beating Clottey and Marg wasn't up to par with some other years but it was hardly terrible. Shows how high the bar is raised.

If I could script it, I'd have preferred to see him go Mosley-Cotto-Clottey after Hatton instead of the order he went (well, I'd have preffered May but dealing with who he did fight).

Beating Margarito was completely worthless and pathetic.

Beating Clottey was a solid win but that's about where it stops in my opinion.

I'd script it the same, but of course, Pacquaio's camp wanted no part of Mosley at that point.

[PrettyBoy22]

From what Ricky Hatton has been saying in recent interviews, he got dropped in sparring, peaked well too early and left his best work in the gym- his camp was in dissaray, FMS not committed to the cause at all- was this really a difficult fight for Manny Pacquiao?

Oh, and he beat a weight-drained Cotto. Credit where its due and all that but i believe Pacquiao had better years than 2009 personally

[tesla_power]

Beating Margarito was completely worthless and pathetic.

Beating Clottey was a solid win but that's about where it stops in my opinion.

I'd script it the same, but of course, Pacquaio's camp wanted no part of Mosley at that point.

I actually like the Marg win. IMO, I think that fight took something out of him as well. I factor it on Pac's reluctance to fight on his last 2 bouts. Also, after this fight, he almost immediately issued a statement that the 154 stint ( make that 150 ) is a one time affair. Lolz.

[PAC-BOY]

Id say it was right in here where he got fighter of the decade. Id also say the whole decade belonged to him!

[crold1]

Beating Margarito was completely worthless and pathetic.

Beating Clottey was a solid win but that's about where it stops in my opinion.

I'd script it the same, but of course, Pacquaio's camp wanted no part of Mosley at that point.

I wouldn't call it pathetic. Margarito gave him a tough go in spots and everyone I watched with (all casual fans) had their jaws on the floor. From an entertainment standpoint, it succeeded. It was worthless in terms of belt and career enhancement. That said, since we both agree on Clottey, hard to call that a terrible year. It was just the average year gone by.

Last year? Bleh. didn't like either match on paper even if the latter turned out well from a viewing/challenge perspective...we'll skip rehashing the scoring debate. This year is off to a good start and Bradley is the best fighter he's fought in terms of on paper quality before the fight since Cotto.

In terms of so-called P4P guys coasting, and considering his age, Pac has never floated as bad as Floyd did from 03-05 or Roy between Toney and the rise to move to 75 (There's no equivalent to Paz or Bruseles) for whatever that's worth.

Where have you gone Hank Dimaggio.

[New England]

Beating Clottey and Marg wasn't up to par with some other years but it was hardly terrible. Shows how high the bar is raised.

If I could script it, I'd have preferred to see him go Mosley-Cotto-Clottey after Hatton instead of the order he went (well, I'd have preffered May but dealing with who he did fight).



This is an interesting year. I'd have preferred he fight Casa or Juan Diaz at 35. David Diaz was a worthless fight; screw the paper title. At the time, I was in the 'only beats Oscar if Oscar is shot camp.' Oscar looked shot, but he looked good enough in 09-10 to make me wonder if he always could have hung with Oscar. He was faster than Oscar ever was, had two hands and showed some of the improv skills against Cotto that Oscar never had. The Manny who beat Oscar and Cotto versus the Oscar who fought in the late 90s would be very interesting.

08 was the most important year of his career, his star making year, and in that sense it will always be one of his best. Narrowly getting by his arch-rival at 30 in another classic and then ending at 47 was impressive even if Diaz and Oscar really weren't (Diaz always, Oscar in retrospect).

oscar looked shot against pacquiao but manny still looked terrific

he was flying around the ring that night and landing three and four punch combinations flush. pinpoint stuff. very fast and very sharp.
if they let that fight go on he would have eventually caught up to oscar and put him away.

that's the fight that got the ball rolling for pacquiao. he was a three to one dog at least. the feeling was that oscar was just too big and that pacquiao (who up to that point was more of a pure aggressor,) didn't have the craft to outbox oscar. oscar was still the biggest name in boxing at the time.

i picked manny to win via early knockout, along with many others, against hatton. i had no idea he would leave him unconscious for many minutes on the canvas from arguably the best straight left hand ever thrown.

but i thought that the cotto fight would go to a decision and that it would be competitive and have much more give and take than it did. people were calling it a pick em fight. cotto was not a massive dog. you could call it competative for a few rounds, but after the second knockdown it was pretty damn clear who the better fighter was.

score it how you like, cotto did not look like a fighter willing to quit in his fight against josh clottey. huge headbutt. huge gash.
the questions about cotto were mostly physical, and pertaining to his legs and his ability to take a shot.

manny made him all but quit.

and of course in '06 he stopped erik morales twice, who is smaller and was more faded (lost to zahir raheem) than both hatton and cotto, but is on another planet in terms of his ranking as a great fighter

two massive victories. i remember being on cloud nine at that stage on pacquiao.
things have certainly changed, but that's why we have to wait before we rank these guys

[tesla_power]

I wouldn't call it pathetic. Margarito gave him a tough go in spots and everyone I watched with (all casual fans) had their jaws on the floor. From an entertainment standpoint, it succeeded. It was worthless in terms of belt and career enhancement. That said, since we both agree on Clottey, hard to call that a terrible year. It was just the average year gone by.

Last year? Bleh. didn't like either match on paper even if the latter turned out well from a viewing/challenge perspective...we'll skip rehashing the scoring debate. This year is off to a good start and Bradley is the best fighter he's fought in terms of on paper quality before the fight since Cotto.

In terms of so-called P4P guys coasting, and considering his age, Pac has never floated as bad as Floyd did from 03-05 or Roy between Toney and the rise to move to 75 (There's no equivalent to Paz or Bruseles) for whatever that's worth.

Where have you gone Hank Dimaggio.

But Paz beat Duran twice.