The Manny Pacquiao Legacy Continues

[AdSense-A]

By Anthony “Zute” George

Manny Pacquiao has had a story book career. A career that has seen KO’s and controversies, as well as plenty of dollar signs. At his best, Pac Man was a swarming puncher who connected with force equivalent to getting hit with steel weights. His ability to throw punches in bunches with such decapitating force has been equaled by very few in boxing history. Throw in the fact that he did this out of the southpaw stance, made Pacquiao a nightmare match up for any fighter.

How many other pugilists have battered so many great and/or tough fighters as Pacquiao has? Reynante Jamili, Seung-Kon Chae, Nedal Hussein; a close fight until Pacquiao got him out of there, Foijan Prawet, Lehlo Ledwaba, Prayat Sawaingam, Emmanuel Lucero, Marco Antonio Barrera; twice, although the second time was not as one-sided, Narongrit Pirang, Hector Velazquez, Erik Morales; twice, Oscar Larios, Jorge Solis, David Diaz, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley, Brandon Rios, Chris Algieri and Jessie Vargas all fell victim to Pacquiao’s fistic mastery. With Pacquiao losing very few rounds in the process. Impressive to say the least. It is the reason way so many people love and respect Manny.

Bill Gallo, the late New York Daily News boxing columnist/cartoonist, said the three best boxers he ever saw were Sugar Ray Robinson, Willie Pep and Pacquiao, a man who weighed a mere 106 pounds in his professional debut. High praise.

Indeed, Manny Pacquiao has built a boxing legacy that has destined him to be enshrined in every boxing hall of fame that exists. But those ceremonies are still on hold, as Pacquiao is still an active champion who is willing to test his skills against good, young talent. How many boxers can say they did that at the age of 40?

This time Pacquiao faces the WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman in a PBC pay per view extravaganza on July 20th in Las Vegas. It is going to be a tough fight for Pac Man because he no longer fights like the fighter who impressed Mr. Gallo so much. These days, his work rate is significantly lower, and his punches appear to no longer have the kind of hellacious power that battered the likes of Hatton, Cotto and the like. Thurman is one of the most skilled pugilists in boxing today and has impressive pop on his punches. Pacquiao is going to have to dig deep into that fountain of youth if he is going to best One Time Thurman.

There is another side of the coin in this fight. How well will it do as an event? Manny Pacquiao has been a very successful pay per view attraction, and he will carry the bulk of the responsibility for Pacquiao Vs Thurman, which is a Fox Sports/ PBC pay per view production. If the fight sells well, Pac Man will get the praise, if it tanks, the pundits will say Pacquiao is no longer PPV worthy. His last fight against Adrien Broner overperformed with a reported 400,000 pay per view buys. They are probably looking for more buys with this fight because it stands to reason that Thurman will require a bigger purse than The Problem received.

Getting over 400,000 pay per view buys in the climate that boxing is now seems like a tall order, however; DAZN and ESPN + are doing well as streaming services, and there is a lot of boxing choices on non-premium cable these days. Indeed, pay per view is not the only place you can see top boxing talent nowadays. This fact is probably the reason why the PBC has pulled out all the stops with their undercard, as July 20th is shaping up to be a very good night of fights on paper. Having said that, virtually nothing is accomplished on paper, and the financial success of this fight will more or less be determined by the star power of Manny.

Stay tuned…

Check out “Zutes Boxing Talk”, which airs every Wednesday live from 7PM to 9PM ET. The show is dedicated to discussing the sweet science straight up with no twists. “Zute” has interviewed boxing legends such as Carlos Palomino, Mike McCallum, Pernell Whitaker, Jeff Fenech, Buddy McGirt, Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson, Marvin Camel and Eddie Mustafa Muhammad. As well as today’s stars like Danny Garcia, Sergey Kovalev, Regis Prograis, Teofimo Lopez and Gary Russell, JR.

Follow the link to listen live or catch archived shows