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Well lets see. What were Pacquiao's last 5 fights.....Margarito, Clottey, Cotto, Hatton, De La Hoya. Let's go through them..
De La Hoya - Not coming off an impressive win, beat Forbes in a tune up, didn't look great, fought Floyd to a split decision which was quite close, but Floyd won. De La Hoya was seen as a mismatch for Manny, he went up 12 lbs to fight him, won easily.
Hatton - Was the lineal light welterweight champion, just beat Malignaggi with ease who was the #1 guy, beat Luzcano which was a tune up, lost to Floyd. Was in the P4P top 10.
Cotto - Fought Clottey to a SD who was the best guy available. Won against Jennings before that which was insignificant, fought Margarito in an out and out war before that and lost. Was in the P4P top 10.
Clottey - Fought Miguel Cotto and Zab Judah. Close fight with Cotto, not so close with Zab. Was in the top 5 Welterweights.
Margarito - Beat a journeyman, smashed to bits by Mosley, beat Cotto in a war.
Now while you might be correct that he never fought anyone coming off an impressive win, when people fight guys who are equal to them, it is going to be close. What you should look at is....Floyd struggled with DLH, Manny didn't. Cotto and Margarito and Clottey all went life or death with each other, while Manny didn't struggle at all. Are you gonna **** on Bradley or Alexander if they fight Khan next? Khan boxed well, but sc****d by Maidana and almost got KO'd....does that discredit him as an opponent? No it doesn't. You can't discredit opponents by saying they almost lost their last fight....fact is, fights are close when you don't duck and fight the guys you're supposed to. Oscar was a huge jump up in weight and the tallest, biggest man Manny fought. Hatton was clear lineal champion, bigger and just beat the crap out of his closest ranked contender. Cotto had already beaten Mosley, lost to Margarito in a war, beat Jennings (insignificant) and beat the next best fighter in the division in Clottey, Clottey had just fought Cotto, and Zab, Margarito is still most probably better than most welterweights and a good handful of the top 10 jnr middleweights.
Also, Manny wouldn't have to fight guys like Clottey and Margarito if Money May just manned up and fought him.
You look at Floyd's last fights...and it's so easy to put a negative spin on them, it's so easy.
Mosley - Hadn't fought in a year and a half. Beat a poorly prepared Margarito, went life or death with Mayorga and lost to Cotto.
Juan Manuel Marquez - Was far too small, just had 3 consecutive wars with Pacquiao, Casamayor and Diaz...struggled with them all.
Hatton - Just beat a shot Castillo, almost lost to Collazo, was looking poor at his two runs at welterweight.
It's easy to make fighters look like ****. Don't bother, just let them do their thing, appreciate their accomplishments and leave it at that. If a fighter is blatont cherry-picking or avoiding certain guys, then fair enough. But Pacquiao is fighting bigger guys who are either ranked in lbs for lbs ranking or had reputations for being tough SOB's.
De La Hoya - Not coming off an impressive win, beat Forbes in a tune up, didn't look great, fought Floyd to a split decision which was quite close, but Floyd won. De La Hoya was seen as a mismatch for Manny, he went up 12 lbs to fight him, won easily.
Hatton - Was the lineal light welterweight champion, just beat Malignaggi with ease who was the #1 guy, beat Luzcano which was a tune up, lost to Floyd. Was in the P4P top 10.
Cotto - Fought Clottey to a SD who was the best guy available. Won against Jennings before that which was insignificant, fought Margarito in an out and out war before that and lost. Was in the P4P top 10.
Clottey - Fought Miguel Cotto and Zab Judah. Close fight with Cotto, not so close with Zab. Was in the top 5 Welterweights.
Margarito - Beat a journeyman, smashed to bits by Mosley, beat Cotto in a war.
Now while you might be correct that he never fought anyone coming off an impressive win, when people fight guys who are equal to them, it is going to be close. What you should look at is....Floyd struggled with DLH, Manny didn't. Cotto and Margarito and Clottey all went life or death with each other, while Manny didn't struggle at all. Are you gonna **** on Bradley or Alexander if they fight Khan next? Khan boxed well, but sc****d by Maidana and almost got KO'd....does that discredit him as an opponent? No it doesn't. You can't discredit opponents by saying they almost lost their last fight....fact is, fights are close when you don't duck and fight the guys you're supposed to. Oscar was a huge jump up in weight and the tallest, biggest man Manny fought. Hatton was clear lineal champion, bigger and just beat the crap out of his closest ranked contender. Cotto had already beaten Mosley, lost to Margarito in a war, beat Jennings (insignificant) and beat the next best fighter in the division in Clottey, Clottey had just fought Cotto, and Zab, Margarito is still most probably better than most welterweights and a good handful of the top 10 jnr middleweights.
Also, Manny wouldn't have to fight guys like Clottey and Margarito if Money May just manned up and fought him.
You look at Floyd's last fights...and it's so easy to put a negative spin on them, it's so easy.
Mosley - Hadn't fought in a year and a half. Beat a poorly prepared Margarito, went life or death with Mayorga and lost to Cotto.
Juan Manuel Marquez - Was far too small, just had 3 consecutive wars with Pacquiao, Casamayor and Diaz...struggled with them all.
Hatton - Just beat a shot Castillo, almost lost to Collazo, was looking poor at his two runs at welterweight.
It's easy to make fighters look like ****. Don't bother, just let them do their thing, appreciate their accomplishments and leave it at that. If a fighter is blatont cherry-picking or avoiding certain guys, then fair enough. But Pacquiao is fighting bigger guys who are either ranked in lbs for lbs ranking or had reputations for being tough SOB's.
....but there's a cloud of smoke over Manny....thats just being real....no other way to put it
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