IT wasn’t as easy as his three previous fights when he demolished his opponents—David Diaz, Oscar de la Hoya and Ricky Hatton—but Manny Pacquiao still electrified the boxing world with his 12th round stoppage of Miguel Cotto to annex his seventh world title.
And just like in his previous bouts, Pacquiao continues to get better in every fight. Against Diaz, Pacquiao showed he could move up in weight and still retain his punching power. Against De la Hoya, he showed the he could outbox one of the legends of boxing. Against Hatton, he showed he had knockout power in either hand and could flatten a foe with a single punch.
In his latest and most difficult test, this time against Cotto, Pacquiao showed that he could absorb punishment to the body and do what was needed to win which was to gut it out against a truly resilient foe and go on to win.
Before the fight, Pacquiao was such an overwhelming favorite that the question in most people’s mind was not whether he would win or lose but what round he would knock Cotto out.
So does this make Pacquiao the greatest boxer in history? You certainly have valid arguments for that. He is after all the first boxer in history to win seven world titles, but to my mind that still pales in comparison to the achievement of Henry Armstrong, who actually held world titles in the welterweight, lightweight and featherweight divisions simultaneously in 1938.
Remember this was the time when there was only one world champion in boxing and there was no “junior” weight classes in between divisions.
For me, Pacquiao is not yet the greatest in history, but he is awfully close and should get there in a few more fights.
What’s next for Pacquiao? I say, bring on Floyd Mayweather Jr.! And after that, on to the Philippine Congress in May, 2010.
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The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, winless in six starts, shocked the experts when they inflicted the first loss of the conference on the league-leading Alaska Aces last Friday the 13th at the Antipolo Ynares Center.
It was called a monumental upset, a shocker and a colossal surprise. For me, the game showed that on any given playing day, anything could happen in the Philippine Basketball Association and any team can beat any other team in the league.
Despite the loss, the Aces (6-1) are still alone on top of the standings. Despite the victory, the Elasto Painters (1-6) are still all alone at the bottom of the standings.
Trailing Alaska are the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings (5-1), the San Miguel Beermen (5-2), the Talk n Text Tropang Texters (4-2), the Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants (3-3), the Sta. Lucia Realtors (3-3), the Barako Bull Energy Boosters (2-4), the Coca-Cola Tigers (1-4), and the Burger King Whoppers (1-5).
Some consolation for the Aces: Joe Devance, who started the season slowly as he recovered from minor injuries, finally played his best game of the conference tallying a game-high 24 points, grabbing nine rebounds and issuing two assists.
Devance also displayed spectacular accuracy from the field converting eight of 11 attempts from two-point distance.
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