How has Pacquiao exactly declined?

[fabie]

• Wear and Tear due to age, time in the ring AND the conflicting lifestyles (showbiz and politics)
• Motivation
• Fame and Money also perhaps have tamed him

But this "taming" isn't because there was no fire left. It's still smoldering but the physical, emotional and spiritual demands of this sport is really unforgiving that one has really has to GIVE BACK to the sport by disciplining oneself.

As much as I am a huge fan of Pacquiao, I have seen these things from the get-go from rags to riches scenario for him. Also, there's many people around him that pulls him in different directions. His finances is in shambles (I think).

But he had a good long run in his career. One of this generations' best and perhaps one of the TOP 50's greatest ever.

[hayZ]

He seems to have lost a bit of explosiveness and speed. He used to throw 1000 punches a fight and seemed as though he could throw hundreds more, now he throws nearly half that. The Pac I saw from DLH, Hatton and Cotto was THE best. He was in his absolute prime, he had that vicious killer instinct but after that he seems to have slowly declined. He is still EXCELLENT and he would still give Mayweather a great fight but I honestly felt as though that Pac in his absolute PRIME was the only guy who could have beaten Mayweather. Its why Mayweather introduced random style testing...he never wanted that against anyone but him before. Its why he was talking about his health, when had we ever heard of Mayweather talking about being worried for his health.

I do like Mayweather, a Mayweather HL back in 2005/2006 got me following the sport as a hardcore fan but he avoided Margarito back in 2006 because he knew he was too dangerous and he got more money fighting chumps, he avoided Cotto in 2007/2008 because he said Cotto didn't have enough fans, didn't fight Paul Williams when he was looking great and now he has avoided Pac when that fight would STILL make more money then any other fight out there. Mayweather said hes all about the money, then why not take the fight? How did Guerrero deserve his shot over Pac when he was on a tear?

[Dr Rumack]

It's a pretty clear deterioration. I think you just have to watch any of his fights from 08/09/10 to see that his speed and workrate have significantly declined. He's not as energetic or explosive and he doesn't have the same rhythm. He clearly takes long stretches off now as well which really diminishes his effectiveness.

It was inevitable that this would happen. The move to welterweight was really the last big charge of his career, and the wave has broken now. His career as an elite fighter is slowly ebbing away, and we'll never see the Manny Pacquiao of 09/10 again.

[bojangles1987]

Pacquiao in his prime had the speed, stamina, and relentlessness to be on your ass for all 3 minutes of every round. Today's Pacquiao has less speed, less stamina, and isn't anywhere near as relentless. Plus mentally he seems somewhat checked out of the sport.

And besides, arguing that any athlete is still in their prime after 17 years isn't true.

[pinpointsman]

He hasn't. What happened is Mosely moved on his feet and so did Bradley now Pac is shot.
We all saw glimpses of this - dealing with movement problem" in the Cotto fight.

Pac can't deal with boxers who move around the ring instead of standing right in front of him.

Rios was a comeback fight and Pac still through 790 punches after getting knocked out in his last fight.

[Dr Rumack]

Pacquiao in his prime had the speed, stamina, and relentless to be on your ass for all 3 minutes of every round. Today's Pacquiao has less speed, less stamina, and isn't anywhere near as relentless. Plus mentally he seems somewhat checked out of the sport.

And besides, arguing that any athlete is still in their prime after 17 years isn't true.

You hit the nail on the head. He was relentless. And he made opponents work for three minutes of every round. Without that he's a pale shadow of his former self. That relentlessness used to mentally exhaust opponents. He was constantly on the move, constantly throwing from odd angles with speed and solid power in every shot. He's still a handful now, but more manageable for the guys at the very top.

[Young Stribling]

I was in the crowd, i laughed out loud when manny hit the deck,
I saw it land it was a straight right hand that broke his fkin neck.
Now he barely talks or even walks his legs are that unsteady,
its plain to see even on tv he was shaking worse than Freddie.

You sound like a 20 year old.

[kurt0411]

Hmm i get what you guys are saying, but still dont you think that its more of an exaggeration because he was that damn good.

At the end of the day, as someone mentioned above, he still did throw about 800 punches against rios, thats still a ridicoulos amount.

[SplitSecond]

lost his fire, has become a potshotter since the mosley fight
against guys like rios he would throw full force combinations, now it's arm punches, he does just the bare minimum to win, he can't destroy anymore

it's age, testosterone has dropped, his body doesn't carry the same energy
this same drop in energy is what has decreased his punch resistance also

[soul_survivor]

Ideally no fanboys, i just want to know most of you guys thoughts on pacquiao 3 years ago compared to now.

In my opinion, pac vs marquez 3 and pac vs bradley is were pac looked like he wasnt really interested but imo still won both fights regardless. Against marquez 4, imo it was pac's best performance since margarito, till he got careless. And, even though it was against rios, he fought tremendously well in the that fight, and his speed was definitely still there.

Im curious to see what you guys think? Has pac decreased, if so in what way? Is pacs still the same?

I agree with a lot of your analysis right now, apart from Pac/JMM 3, I think that was the only fight (apart from the KO) that JMM won clearly. JMM was terrific that night but Pac was admittedly slow and disinterested at times.

In the 4th fight, Pac was as fast and active as I've seen him in a long time, possibly since the Margarito fight as you point out.

But it's obvious that Pac has declined, take the Rios fight for example, his head movement for at least the first 6 rounds was almost non-existent and when he finally started to move a bit more, it was only a fraction of what he had been 3-4 years ago. His hand speed was still terrific but his footwork had lost a step and his punch resistance has gone down too, Rios had him shook where Margarito/Cotto/Mosley/Oscar never did. Yes some of them weren't at their best but they all retained some power. Heck not even a close to prime Hatton could wobble Pac and noway does Rios hit harder or more accurately than Hatton.

He's still a great fighter and beats 90% of welterweights today but I don't think he can cope against Mayweather now or someone bigger, whereas the Pac of old would maybe look at going up to 154.