By Tris Dixon

“Life’s greatest liberty is having nothing left to prove.”

Or so the saying goes.

Manny Pacquiao might show something but ultimately he will prove little if he does as expected and defeats Australian Jeff Horn on Saturday.

Whatever happens, he has had his time in the sun. Like a shooting star, he shone, burned brightly and simmered before he will, ultimately, become one of boxing history’s more significant ex-fighters.

The Filipino icon is still massively relevant in the welterweight division (for many, he’s still No 1 at 147lbs), but he’s becoming less important in boxing’s grander scheme. He can no longer claim to be the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Who could have predicted he would be fighting on a Sunday afternoon in Australia while still atop of his division? Are fight fans turned off by the fact he’s now 38, has lost three of his last seven and he hasn’t knocked out an opponent since his fantastic bludgeoning of Miguel Cotto in 2009, eight long years and 12 fights ago?

Remember those hedonistic days when he emphatically starched David Diaz, retired Oscar De La Hoya, obliterated Ricky Hatton and then terrorised Cotto?

You could argue the landslide victory over Joshua Clottey that followed was a quality win, and then the dismantling of Antonio Margarito was just as clear. But it was during the victory over the controversial Mexican that Pacquiao, who seemed to let Margarito off the hook when badly hurt and nearly blind, seemed to change irreversibly.

Whether he slowed down a touch, grew merciful – a horrific curse for a boxer – or lost his mojo we do not know. In subsequent fights he’s promised to show his spiteful side again, to bring back the monster that Freddie Roach and Alex Ariza turned into a phenomenal wrecking ball regardless of the weight class.

But he’s fizzled in outings he’s been expected to impress in and certainly the Filipino appears to have become more Clark Kent than the Superman of years ago.

Yet we judge him by the standards he has set. And they are incredibly high. If they could be made, fights against Errol Spence and Keith Thurman would pit the division’s best against each other but Pacquiao’s time seems to have come and gone, the division evolving around his ‘name’ to the extent that the old legend is virtually an incidental afterthought. He is not. But his fight next weekend with little-known Australian Horn out of the familiar glare he has become used to fighting under won’t convince anyone otherwise.

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Horn is less-known in boxing circles than Floyd Mayweather’s next opponent, and Conor McGregor hasn’t even boxed yet.

The two most noticeable names on his record were also veterans, well-regarded punchers who’d faded, but Pacquaio’s star has not fallen as far as those of either Randall Bailey or Ali Funeka.

Pacquiao is taking his first step on to free-TV since 2005. But perhaps ESPN should temper any great expectations for viewing figures. In his pomp, he was worth a million buys against decent opposition. Against Mayweather, it was more than 4.5 million. But now he’s fighting a comparatively obscure foe in a contest that won’t give him an ounce of career progression, though it will help feed the mouths of those in his team.

According to ESPN, he’s arrived in Australia with a seam-splitting entourage bursting with around 160 people. That is astonishing, sad, amazing, breath-taking and mind-blowing all at once. It’s the Manny Pacquiao Show, however, and it is a novelty in Oz, the same way it will be if Top Rank continues to take Manny on the road. History shows that fans will always come out for an all-time great, even if they aren’t capable of a legendary performance any more. Arguably the last celebrated fight he had was in 2012, when great rival Juan Manuel Marquez knocked him cold. As much as anything, that damaging, devastating beheading signalled the end of his elite run. There has been no violent upward trajectory since, even if he has notched stellar wins, and that includes capturing the WBO welterweight title against Jesse Vargas in November.

Pacquaio continues to make the right noises. He says he is preparing harder than ever, that he’s excited and will show the fans his best.

That mantra has become somewhat tiresome and hollow with tepid victories over Brandon Rios and Chris Algieri. When he was a smiling assassin, years ago, those words made him sound sadistic. Now they are like empty sound bytes from years of boring high-profile media engagements before and after money-spinning bonanzas.

Roach is hitting similar party lines. The Wild Card boss knows how to sell a fight and now he speaks of Manny’s work ethic, how seriously he takes his fights and how he’s “Not seen this Manny Pacquiao in seven years.”

But the performances have not matched the bottom line. And the bottom line is that anything less than Hall of Fame performances against Hall of Fame fighters, prospective or legitimate future Hall of Famers, and it seems there is little point in the roadshow picking up much steam.

Okay, so 50,000 fans in the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane might not agree, though if Horn pulls off the (highly) unlikely result of a lifetime they will go home happy.  They may go home with some cheer if Pacquiao does roll back the years; reminds them of the exciting southpaw whirlwind that laid waste to superstar after superstar. But they will be reminded, of course, that Horn is not Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Cotto, De La Hoya, Marquez, Hatton, Bradley or Mosley. If we do see something ‘special’, the illusion might be that Pacquiao is readying himself for another charge a pay-per-view megafight, but we will not know what is left in that 38-year-old tank until there is a Spence or Thurman in the opposite corner. 

Regardless of who, where or how he fights, there is nothing left to prove. Perhaps if there was we might be able to get excited by Manny Pacquiao fights again.