![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/cid_X_MA3_1269187203@aol.gif\" "\\"468")
<\/a><\/p>\nI have noticed a general pendulum swing in most public debates, first all the way to one side, then back to the other.\u00a0 The individual person tends to get fed up with one side of the story rather quickly and, in an effort to encourage unnecessary novelty, violently shifts his mindset back to that of his initial opposite.\u00a0 Pundits call this \u201cbalance\u201d and \u201cmoderation\u201d, but I call it a sham.\u00a0 If one side of the story is correct, you should not sacrifice truth for \u201cbalance.\u201d<\/p>\n The same can be said in the case of Manny Pacquiao.\u00a0 Pacquiao is, hands down, the greatest fighter of the era.\u00a0 Making a different case is difficult at best and delusional at worst.\u00a0 Yet the internet is full of writers, driven by\u2026 well, who knows what\u2026 that feel differently.\u00a0 I have never seen an athlete as successful in his athletic endeavors as has been Manny Pacquiao and yet so fully denigrated for illogical nonsense as Pacquiao has been.\u00a0<\/p>\n Consider that:<\/p>\n -Pacquiao has jumped more weight classes with more success than has any other fighter of all-time.\u00a0 While that idea is somewhat mitigated by the era of an increased amount of weight classes, blaming Pacquiao for circumstances seems silly.\u00a0 Pacquiao has fought professionally within a weight limit of thirty pounds, something that has been matched (arguably) by only the greatest fighters of all-time:\u00a0 Sugar Ray Robinson, Roberto Duran, Roy Jones, JR., and Sugar Ray Leonard.\u00a0 Some will tell you that Pacquiao\u2019s performance is not as impressive as the performance of these pugilists, but I will retort that even receiving mention in the same BREATH as these SPECTACULAR fighters is a testament to the impressive body of work that Pacman has put together.\u00a0<\/p>\n -Pacquiao has been treated with a double standard in more than one respect.\u00a0 First, his knockout losses toward the beginning of his career have been used as proof of weakness by Floyd Mayweather, JR., and others in Mayweather\u2019s corner on the issue of Pacquiao\u2019s dominance.\u00a0 No matter how many times this crowd hears that Pacquiao was a teenager at the time of such knockout losses, they will point to those moments as brief weaknesses for which he should forever receive punishment.\u00a0 Pacquiao fought professionally 24 times as a teenager; Mayweather fought a grand total of four times as a teenager.\u00a0 Pacquiao won his first title belt a few days before his twentieth birthday.\u00a0<\/p>\n Notice how none of the positives that Pacquiao accomplished during that time period are mentioned by any of those that wish to detract from Pacquiao.\u00a0 Instead of focusing on the important matters (such as him wiping the floor with really effective fighters, grabbing a belt, and establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with for a decade to follow), they focus on a pair of knockout losses that are ancient history.\u00a0<\/p>\n -Even if Pacquiao\u2019s losses were significant, the following men have been knocked out at least once:\u00a0 George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Floyd Patterson, Sugar Ray Robinson, Dick Tiger, Henry Armstrong, Willie Pep, Benny Leonard, Sam Langford, Henry Wills, Joe Louis, Oscar De La Hoya, Jack Johnson, Jack Demspey, Mike Tyson, Ken Norton, Harry Greb, Thomas Hearns, Archie Moore, Bob Foster, Fritzie Zivic, Roberto Duran, Lennox Lewis, and Wladimir Klitschko.\u00a0<\/p>\n The bottom line is that fighters that fight other good fighters without ducking people, making excuses, or taking cheap shots, usually get knocked out.\u00a0 Many of them were knocked out more than once.\u00a0 Do we downgrade Roberto Duran based on his four KO losses?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Give Manny the same treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n -As if that double standard weren\u2019t bad enough, Pacquiao\u2019s biggest controversy has been entirely manufactured by Mayweather\u2019s PR team.\u00a0 Pacquiao has been accused of using steroids because of 1) his supposed \u201chypocrisy\u201d regarding a fear of needles, 2) his amazing performance at different weights, and 3) his refusal to blood-test just to \u201cclear his name.\u201d<\/p>\n Unfortunately, these arguments are all weak sauce.\u00a0 Pacquiao\u2019s fear of needles have little, if anything, to do with his unwillingness to fight Mayweather or take blood tests.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pacquiao has stated time and time again that he didn\u2019t want the tests to come at random points and up to close time proximity within the fight because they create a hassle and a distraction.\u00a0 Some have said that can\u2019t be true because of the relatively small amount of blood taken in individual tests, but first-hand experiences of the outcomes of blood tests have suggested that some people do indeed bruise easily and feel weaker following a test.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pacquiao may be one of those people.\u00a0 What is a certainty is that Mayweather introduced the testing element as a distraction so he could gain the upper hand in the fight.\u00a0 He can claim that he wants to \u201cclean up the sport\u201d, or that he \u201cis not suggesting Pacquiao is on steroids\u201d, but his timing is not even \u201ccurious\u201d but suspicious.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mayweather never called for testing of any of his other opponents.\u00a0 Now he has decided to claim that his new effort is some sort of high road for future testing.\u00a0 Of course, if you\u2019ve ever covered the career of Floyd Mayweather and the way that he postures leading into a fight, you will see that it makes more sense that he would try to gain a mental edge on Pacquiao going into the fight.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Pacquiao turned it down.\u00a0 As far as his performance at different weight classes serving as evidence of his steroid use, I can\u2019t help but laugh.\u00a0 The same people who find his performance at different weights unimpressive can\u2019t help but point out how impressive it is and use that as a reason to doubt his natural abilities.\u00a0 The fact is that these people are so blinded by hatred for the Filipino that they can\u2019t believe he could achieve such accomplishments.\u00a0 Therefore, they have decided that he\u2019s on drugs.<\/p>\n To take that a step further, they now demand that Pacquiao prove his innocence.\u00a0 You might realize y now that if you were Pacquiao, you would tell these folks to get bent; He doesn\u2019t owe them squat.\u00a0 Is a man responsible for clearing his name of every charge, no matter how ridiculous?\u00a0 Pacquiao\u2019s one of the toughest men on the planet, right?\u00a0 Does that mean he\u2019s guilty of unsolved murders?\u00a0 I mean, he\u2019s tough, so he could have done it, right?\u00a0 Should we demand an alibi from him?\u00a0 What is someone accused him of coming from another planet?\u00a0 Would he have to prove he is biologically human?\u00a0 When did we start assuming people were guilty and asking them to prove innocence?\u00a0<\/p>\n -Some have even gone as far as to say that Pacquiao has been aided by match-making and stylistic advantage.\u00a0 To this I scoff.\u00a0 I shouldn\u2019t have to type out his resume, but apparently, people need to see this.\u00a0 Manny Pacquiao has won two out of three fights from Erik Morales, two out of two from Marco Antonio Barrera, a win and a draw against Juan Manuel Marquez, and knockouts over David Diaz, Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton, and Oscar De La Hoya.\u00a0 The Marquez fights were denigrated because he \u201cmight have lost.\u201d\u00a0 The Hatton and De La Hoya victories were downplayed because the two men were \u201ctoo old.\u201d\u00a0 Funny how those that downplayed those victories thought that Pacquiao would lose those fights.\u00a0 After the fact, they made excuses for the losers.\u00a0 Pacquiao has put together an impressive body of his work against a variety of different fighters with not tune-ups, very little down time, and very little failure.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the end, I have said nothing new, and yet I have said what needs to be said:\u00a0 Manny Pacquiao is the Pound for Pound Champion of the world, the greatest fighter of his era, and a one of a kind fighter that ranks highly on the all-time list.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t see it for yourself, you have only yourself to blame.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/MannyPacquiaoHeader11.jpg\" "\\"MannyPacquiaoHeader1\\"")
<\/a>By Daniel \u201cTex\u201d Cohen<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nNow the Mayweather camp will come out and tell you that \u201cturning down twenty-five million dollars over a drug test, then fighting for six\u201d is suspicious\u2026 But we all know that\u2019s an incredible oversimplification of what actually happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n