Manny Pacquiao began his career as a 74 pound fighter - confirm or deny?

[madsweeney]

Exactly. This garbage about Pac being a 106 pound fighter is ******. He was 16 when he weighed that much. When he was 21, aka the age Cotto's career began, he was over 120 pounds already.

By the way Xplosivo, where have you been?

I think you miss the point of why people bring up the 106. How many known fighters have professional records at 16? He wasn't eased into things through amateurs or Olympics. He jumped right into the hot seat before having the experience that American fighters have. Do you really think PBF would still have his zero if he started fighting at 16? How many more losses would any fighter have if they skipped amateurs?

[Pullcounter]

Juan Manuel Marquez is viable.

but not as big a payday

But not 106 like many Pac fans claim.

I would imagine Cotto was very light at 16 as well.

cotto was a fat kid no?

I give Pacman credit. He's a great fighter. But to act like he has reigned over 6 divisions is ridiculous. His time as featherweight and super featherweight champion are what impress me the most. Winning a belt against a crappy titlist like David Diaz and an overrated Ricky Hatton are very decieving.

Why is the goal to just win a title and leave the division? Isn't there anything to be said for ruling a division?

diaz was a tune up to get used to 135 lbs and set up a potential fight w/ dlh.

hatton was a legit jr WW fight.

pac is on the paper chase, same as cotto. stop complaining.

[Swoosh]

All this stuff about Pac being a blown up featherweight is coming from the Pac fans that are afraid he's gonna get smashed. It's a built in excuse.

[madsweeney]

But not 106 like many Pac fans claim.

I would imagine Cotto was very light at 16 as well.

I doubt he was that light @ 16. I'm Cotto's height and I had to cut weight to reach 125 for wrestling and that was damn hard as I was also a long distance runner at the time. Cotto could have very well weighed close to 130-140 in high school with a normal diet, I doubt he was cutting alot of weight at that time.

[madsweeney]

All this stuff about Pac being a blown up featherweight is coming from the Pac fans that are afraid he's gonna get smashed. It's a built in excuse.

LOL and how many threads about Marg's "loaded" gloves have been brought up for Cotto's excuse?

[rao007]

All this stuff about Pac being a blown up featherweight is coming from the Pac fans that are afraid he's gonna get smashed. It's a built in excuse.

He's definitely not a blown up featherweight--that's crazy, he would to have to risk his health to go down to 130 agian. However, he is naturally the smaller man here. No-one can argue about that.

[dans]

diaz was a tune up to get used to 135 lbs and set up a potential fight w/ dlh.

hatton was a legit jr WW fight.

pac is on the paper chase, same as cotto. stop complaining.

But looking back, after all is said and done. What will 7 divisions mean? Don't get me wrong, it's impressive anyway you cut it. But do championship wins over sheltered Asian fighters and one fight against David Diaz really mean a lot?

This is not saying anything against Manny as a fighter, just to the accomplishment itself.

Will it really be as impressive as Floyd or Oscar's conquest through the divisions?

[rao007]

But not 106 like many Pac fans claim.

I would imagine Cotto was very light at 16 as well.

Sure, that's obviously to show how far he's come, and hype the match a bit--but not blatantly misleading how light the guy was. Pacquiao was a flyweight until around the age of 20--the range of 112-115-- so it's not much higher than 106.

[Kalion]

But looking back, after all is said and done. What will 7 divisions mean? Don't get me wrong, it's impressive anyway you cut it. But do championship wins over sheltered Asian fighters and one fight against David Diaz really mean a lot?

This is not saying anything against Manny as a fighter, just to the accomplishment itself.

Will it really be as impressive as Floyd or Oscar's conquest through the divisions?

If you take it for face value, then its as impressive as DLHs journey and more then PBF so far since he has not retired. But when you go into depth then its loses some of its luster.Oscars resumeis stacked with great fights at multiple weight classes and PBF has a handful of notable names but one thing about alot of his opponents was he fought them when they were at the peak of thier careers.Pac on the other hand has wins against some of his notable opponents but they came at time when they were considered past there prime or on a declinein some cases according to some people. But if he can win this fight and a potential match with PBF(presuming he beats JMM) then that will be his career defing point.

[Pullcounter]

But looking back, after all is said and done. What will 7 divisions mean? Don't get me wrong, it's impressive anyway you cut it. But do championship wins over sheltered Asian fighters and one fight against David Diaz really mean a lot?

wow.... you just casually dismissed the victories over mab, morales, and jmm like they were nothing.

This is not saying anything against Manny as a fighter, just to the accomplishment itself.

Will it really be as impressive as Floyd or Oscar's conquest through the divisions?

its better than floyd's cause pac fought all the names worth fighting.

its better than oscar cause oscar lost all his big fights.