Tweet
Manny Pacquiao & The Myth of Soft Competition
Manny Pacquiao & The Myth of Soft Competition
AUTHOR: Carlos Acevedo | IN: THE CURRENT SCENE | COMMENTS: 14 Comments |
Perhaps a certain amount of backlash against Manny Pacquiao was inevitable. Overexposure has probably been the catalyst for some sort of resentment from the easily resentful. While other fighters, apparently agoraphobics, spend most of their time Tweeting incoherently or gorging on Twinkies and Yodels, Pacquiao sings, makes movies, appears on talk shows, runs marathons, and moonlights as a congressman.
Moral qualms about his upcoming bout with Antonio Margarito have also kicked up a cloud of dust around Pacquiao recently. But the latest narrative being woven around Pacquiao, who turned pro at 106 pounds, is that he has been handpicking safe opponents, with the latest example of that being Margarito. What is most remarkable about this pseudo-theory is that there are fighters out there who actually do handpick opponents and who embody the nastiest aspects of mismatches. This trend can easily be found on television, where opponents do their best “Night of the Living Dead” imitations for the benefit of no one but the flesh peddlers who promote their dooms. They enter the ring still wrapped in burial shrouds, knock-kneed, ready to bleed, pale from the lack of light in the mausoleums, sepulchers, and catacombs from which they were exhumed.
In addition, many headliners are guilty of obvious cherry picking and seem to get away with it. Bernard Hopkins, for example, has been lauded for years for his light heavyweight accomplishments despite having only one fight (against Antonio Tarver) worthy of being asterisk-free. And, of course, no one is as protected as Andre Berto is, yet when it was announced that Berto, The Human Bermuda Triangle of Boxing, would be facing Freddy Hernandez, the general consensus seemed to be: there is no one else in the welterweight division for Berto to fight so the choice of Hernandez is just ducky. Does the same rationale not apply to Pacquiao? No, Margarito is not the best welterweight in the world at this point; that distinction belongs to Floyd Mayweather Jr. But, once again, it must be reiterated: the only fight that matters is Pacquiao-Mayweather, and if that bout cannot be made–because of lawsuits, enmity, aversion, avarice, or because the rings of Saturn have suddenly vanished–then Pacquiao must seek an alternative. That alternative happens to be the disgraced former number one welterweight in the world–as per The Ring–in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008.
But Margarito joins a list of prizefighters who have been deemed easy pickings. Joshua Clottey, a top five or six welterweight by consensus, lost a debated decision to Miguel Cotto and was ready for the trash heap. Oscar De La Hoya was a heavy favorite going into his fight with Pacquiao, and several knowing pieces were hunted and pecked on sticky keyboards asserting the farcical nature of the fight and how Pacquiao was destined to be trampled in a mismatch. Ricky Hatton was the lineal junior welterweight champion, a top “P-4-P” entrant, and the Ring beltholder when Pacquiao knocked him through a wormhole and into another dimension. Somehow, Hatton was not up to par for the simple fact that he lost one fight to a superb boxer—Floyd Mayweather Jr. Miguel Cotto also went from being the ne plus ultra to a washed-up pug after one loss. Ditto Margarito, who has looked mediocre in the ring only a bare handful of times in a career stretching back to early 1994, when Boris Yeltsin, Tonya Harding, and the Shining Path were newsmakers. Now, apparently, Margarito is walking on his heels and ready for a retirement home.
Yes, Margarito was thrashed by Shane Mosley (another top P-4-P fighter at the time) last year. An extended drubbing may, indeed, have a deleterious effect on a fighter–if not during his career, then perhaps in retirement–but we will not know this until the drubee has faced the kind of competition that will push him to levels he can no longer reach. Sources without anything to gain, like Doug Fischer and Gabriel Montoya, have reported that Margarito has looked sharp in sparring, both mentally and physically. If Margarito, with eye-popping height and reach advantages over Pacquiao, loses, it will be because Pacquiao is the better fighter. Who knew the day would come when Antonio Margarito—not long removed from being the “Most Feared Man in Boxing—” would be considered a pushover?
In some quarters, Mayweather clinging to his infamous zero, like a man desperately hanging onto driftwood in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, is considered a sign of unfighterly circumspection. But at the same time, it seems that fighters with a single loss are not worth bothering about either. Where, exactly, do these contradictions meet? If there is a reason MMA might be superior to boxing, it is the fact that fighters in MMA are not considered fit for the scrap heap after suffering a loss or two against top competition.
Obsessed with undefeated records the same way a fetishist is obsessed with shoes, these mock boxing fans–and, worse still, their dull and dulling doppelgangers, mock boxing writers–devalue the efforts of topnotch fighters with their distorted visions. Let them go on searching for the proper high heels or peep-toe booties to defile.
AUTHOR: Carlos Acevedo | IN: THE CURRENT SCENE | COMMENTS: 14 Comments |
Perhaps a certain amount of backlash against Manny Pacquiao was inevitable. Overexposure has probably been the catalyst for some sort of resentment from the easily resentful. While other fighters, apparently agoraphobics, spend most of their time Tweeting incoherently or gorging on Twinkies and Yodels, Pacquiao sings, makes movies, appears on talk shows, runs marathons, and moonlights as a congressman.
Moral qualms about his upcoming bout with Antonio Margarito have also kicked up a cloud of dust around Pacquiao recently. But the latest narrative being woven around Pacquiao, who turned pro at 106 pounds, is that he has been handpicking safe opponents, with the latest example of that being Margarito. What is most remarkable about this pseudo-theory is that there are fighters out there who actually do handpick opponents and who embody the nastiest aspects of mismatches. This trend can easily be found on television, where opponents do their best “Night of the Living Dead” imitations for the benefit of no one but the flesh peddlers who promote their dooms. They enter the ring still wrapped in burial shrouds, knock-kneed, ready to bleed, pale from the lack of light in the mausoleums, sepulchers, and catacombs from which they were exhumed.
In addition, many headliners are guilty of obvious cherry picking and seem to get away with it. Bernard Hopkins, for example, has been lauded for years for his light heavyweight accomplishments despite having only one fight (against Antonio Tarver) worthy of being asterisk-free. And, of course, no one is as protected as Andre Berto is, yet when it was announced that Berto, The Human Bermuda Triangle of Boxing, would be facing Freddy Hernandez, the general consensus seemed to be: there is no one else in the welterweight division for Berto to fight so the choice of Hernandez is just ducky. Does the same rationale not apply to Pacquiao? No, Margarito is not the best welterweight in the world at this point; that distinction belongs to Floyd Mayweather Jr. But, once again, it must be reiterated: the only fight that matters is Pacquiao-Mayweather, and if that bout cannot be made–because of lawsuits, enmity, aversion, avarice, or because the rings of Saturn have suddenly vanished–then Pacquiao must seek an alternative. That alternative happens to be the disgraced former number one welterweight in the world–as per The Ring–in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008.
But Margarito joins a list of prizefighters who have been deemed easy pickings. Joshua Clottey, a top five or six welterweight by consensus, lost a debated decision to Miguel Cotto and was ready for the trash heap. Oscar De La Hoya was a heavy favorite going into his fight with Pacquiao, and several knowing pieces were hunted and pecked on sticky keyboards asserting the farcical nature of the fight and how Pacquiao was destined to be trampled in a mismatch. Ricky Hatton was the lineal junior welterweight champion, a top “P-4-P” entrant, and the Ring beltholder when Pacquiao knocked him through a wormhole and into another dimension. Somehow, Hatton was not up to par for the simple fact that he lost one fight to a superb boxer—Floyd Mayweather Jr. Miguel Cotto also went from being the ne plus ultra to a washed-up pug after one loss. Ditto Margarito, who has looked mediocre in the ring only a bare handful of times in a career stretching back to early 1994, when Boris Yeltsin, Tonya Harding, and the Shining Path were newsmakers. Now, apparently, Margarito is walking on his heels and ready for a retirement home.
Yes, Margarito was thrashed by Shane Mosley (another top P-4-P fighter at the time) last year. An extended drubbing may, indeed, have a deleterious effect on a fighter–if not during his career, then perhaps in retirement–but we will not know this until the drubee has faced the kind of competition that will push him to levels he can no longer reach. Sources without anything to gain, like Doug Fischer and Gabriel Montoya, have reported that Margarito has looked sharp in sparring, both mentally and physically. If Margarito, with eye-popping height and reach advantages over Pacquiao, loses, it will be because Pacquiao is the better fighter. Who knew the day would come when Antonio Margarito—not long removed from being the “Most Feared Man in Boxing—” would be considered a pushover?
In some quarters, Mayweather clinging to his infamous zero, like a man desperately hanging onto driftwood in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, is considered a sign of unfighterly circumspection. But at the same time, it seems that fighters with a single loss are not worth bothering about either. Where, exactly, do these contradictions meet? If there is a reason MMA might be superior to boxing, it is the fact that fighters in MMA are not considered fit for the scrap heap after suffering a loss or two against top competition.
Obsessed with undefeated records the same way a fetishist is obsessed with shoes, these mock boxing fans–and, worse still, their dull and dulling doppelgangers, mock boxing writers–devalue the efforts of topnotch fighters with their distorted visions. Let them go on searching for the proper high heels or peep-toe booties to defile.
Comment