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by David P. Greisman - He can do it with 400 punches, and he can do it with one. He can do it with power, and he can do it with speed.
It is no longer “if” for Manny Pacquiao, but “how.”
He has been a champion in four weight divisions, a beltholder in four more. He has gone undefeated for the past five years, lost just once in the past decade, and won 14 times against 13 world titlists. Nine of those victories came by knockout or technical knockout.
No obstacle is insurmountable, no opponent unbeatable.
He has stood in with more powerful punchers and taken their hardest shots. He has broken down men who said he could not hurt them.
Pacquiao did both on Saturday against Antonio Margarito, demolishing a man who, a decade ago, was fighting five weight divisions above him. Pacquiao was a junior featherweight then, soon to capture a 122-pound title, Margarito was a welterweight then, still a couple of years from holding a belt in the 147-pound division.
Pacquiao weighed in at about 144.5 pounds on Friday, 148 pounds on Saturday. Margarito made the contractual limit of 150 pounds on Friday and had rehydrated to 165 pounds by Saturday.
This was a size advantage – for Pacquiao.
So many boxers starve and sweat to make weight, using the period between the weigh-in and the opening bell to pack the pounds back on. They strive to have advantages in size and strength in a division that they do not belong in for but for those few moments they step on the scale.
Pacquiao counts calories, too, but he adds them up rather than subtracting them. Those 7,000 calories per day help him pack on muscle – but not too much mass – so that he can carry his power into higher weight classes without losing too much of the speed that makes his punches all the more effective. [Click Here To Read More]
It is no longer “if” for Manny Pacquiao, but “how.”
He has been a champion in four weight divisions, a beltholder in four more. He has gone undefeated for the past five years, lost just once in the past decade, and won 14 times against 13 world titlists. Nine of those victories came by knockout or technical knockout.
No obstacle is insurmountable, no opponent unbeatable.
He has stood in with more powerful punchers and taken their hardest shots. He has broken down men who said he could not hurt them.
Pacquiao did both on Saturday against Antonio Margarito, demolishing a man who, a decade ago, was fighting five weight divisions above him. Pacquiao was a junior featherweight then, soon to capture a 122-pound title, Margarito was a welterweight then, still a couple of years from holding a belt in the 147-pound division.
Pacquiao weighed in at about 144.5 pounds on Friday, 148 pounds on Saturday. Margarito made the contractual limit of 150 pounds on Friday and had rehydrated to 165 pounds by Saturday.
This was a size advantage – for Pacquiao.
So many boxers starve and sweat to make weight, using the period between the weigh-in and the opening bell to pack the pounds back on. They strive to have advantages in size and strength in a division that they do not belong in for but for those few moments they step on the scale.
Pacquiao counts calories, too, but he adds them up rather than subtracting them. Those 7,000 calories per day help him pack on muscle – but not too much mass – so that he can carry his power into higher weight classes without losing too much of the speed that makes his punches all the more effective. [Click Here To Read More]
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