Pacquiao is king of the ring

The Philippines failed in its bid for an Olympic gold medal in boxing, but ring icon Manny Pacquiao more than made up for the disappointing performance of Harry Tañamor by beating to a pulp one of the most popular American boxers ever to win an Olympic gold.

The December 6 showdown between Pacquiao and Oscar de la Hoya, dubbed the “Dream Match,” ended with the Filipino slugger scoring an emphatic technical knockout victory over boxing’s Golden Boy. De la Hoya, a 1992 gold medalist in the Barcelona Olympics and a six-division world champion as a professional, entered the fight as the smart money bet owing to his decisive height and reach advantages.

The mismatch boxing fans were expecting did take place, only it was the smaller Pacquiao who administered the one-sided beating. Moving up to the welterweight division (147 lbs.), Pacquiao displayed uncanny speed and power in handing de la Hoya the worst beating of his 16-year career. His left eye swollen shut and his cheeks puffy from all the stinging blows he had absorbed from Pacquiao, the 35-year-old de la Hoya quit on his stool at the conclusion of the eighth round.

Post-fight punch statistics underlined Pacquiao’s dominating performance. The Filipino landed 2 to 4 of 585 total punches thrown for a 38 percent accuracy rate compared to de la Hoya’s woeful 21 percentage (83 punches landed out of 402 thrown).

Pacquiao’s victory over de la Hoya capped a sterling year that saw Pacman win all three fights in as many weight classifications.

On March 15, Pacquiao captured the World Boxing Council (WBC) super featherweight (130 lbs.) championship with a hard-earned split-decision over Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez. On June 28, Pacquiao moved up in weight and easily won the WBC lightweight crown (135 lbs.) with a nine-round stoppage of David Diaz. The victory over Diaz made Pacquiao the first Asian fighter to win four world titles in as many weight classifications. The Pacman had previously held titles in the flyweight (112 lbs.) and junior featherweight (122 lbs.) divisions.

While no world title was at stake in the de la Hoya fight, Pacquiao’s resounding over the Golden Boy made for the biggest victory of his career. The “Dream Match” attracted 1.25 million pay-per-view buys, generating revenues in excess of $70 million. The MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas was packed, with an announced attendance of over 15,000. In terms of revenue generated, Pacquiao-de la Hoya topped all other fights for the year.

Pacquiao was never beaten as WBC lightweight champion, but he is likely to give up the belt following the win over de la Hoya. As the year ends, the country has four world champions—Pacquiao, International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight champion (112 lbs.) Nonito Donaire, World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight champion (118 lbs.) Gerry Peñalosa and WBO minimumweight titleholder (105 lbs.) Donnie Nietes.

Peñalosa, Donaire and Nietes made only cameo appearances in the ring. Donaire (20-1 with 13 knockouts), who won the IBF title in July 2007 with a stunning knockout win over Vic Darchinyan, did not see action until November 1, when he scored a lukewarm sixth round technical knockout win over Moruti Mthalane. Nietes, who was crowned WBO champ in September 2007, made only one successful defense—a second round knockout of a grossly overmatched Eddy Castro. Peñalosa (53-6, 36 knockouts) was just as scarce, posting an eighth round knockout win over Ratanachai Sor Vorapin on April 6 at the Araneta Coliseum.

Five other Filipinos figured in world titles, but all went home empty-handed. On June 14, a rusty Florante Condes (22-4-1, 20 knockouts) lost his IBF minimumweight championship via split decision to Raul “Rayito” Garcia. On July 12, Nonito’s brother Glenn (17-4-1, 9 knockouts) dropped a decision to IBF light flyweight (108 lbs.) champion Ulises Solis while Sonny Boy Jaro was outclassed in 12 rounds by WBC light flyweight titlist Edgar Sosa on September 27.

On October 30, hard-hitter Rolly Lunas (25-7-1, 14 knockouts) was outgunned in 12 rounds by World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight king Anselmo Moreno. Two months la­ter, it was the turn of veteran Juanito Rubillar (46-11, 22 knockouts) to bow to Sosa by way of a seventh round technical knockout.

World-title prospects Z “The Dream” Gorres, AJ “Bazooka” Banal and Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista also turned in disappointing performances. Junior bantamweight Gorres (28-2, 15 knockouts) was held to a stalemate on February 2 by Darchinyan while Banal (17-1-1, 14 knockouts) kissed his unbeaten record goodbye on July 26 when he was ambushed in 10 rounds by Rafael “El Torito” Concepcion in a battle for the interim WBA junior bantamweight (115 lbs.) title. On November 22, junior featherweight Bautista (26-2, 19 knockouts) was whipped in eight rounds by Heriberto Ruiz.

The country’s luck in boxing took a nosedive in August, when Tañamor, the lone Filipino qualifier in the boxing tournament of the Beijing Olympics, was eliminated in his first very first match. Picked by the prestigious Sports Illustrated to medal in the light flyweight division (48 kg.), Tañamor lost via a score of 6-to-3 to Ghana’s Manyo Plange. The Zamboanga City native was a mere shadow of the fighter who bagged a silver medal in the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships held in Chicago.

Tañamor salvaged a measure of respect in December, when he won a gold medal in the Boxing World Cup in Moscow by out boxing Cuban Yampier Hernandez.

Pacquiao literally served as a beacon of light for Filipino fighters. In May, Pacman was recognized by The Ring magazine as the new “pound-for-pound” king of the sport after American Floyd Mayweather Jr. inexplicably retired. Pacquiao proved himself worthy of the accolade by winning two world titles and demolishing the most bankable name in the punch-for-pay business. - Ed C. Tolentino, www.manilatimes.net