With the Pacquaio versus Horn fight coming up in July 2 this year and with my love of a good countdown list, many of you out there would of know or suspected that this was coming.
Manny Pacquaio is the fighter of a generation and was declared the boxer of the decade for the 2000s – with good reason. Over the decade Pacquaio won six world titles in five different divisions with five different governing bodies (WBC,IBF, IBO, WBO and the Ring).
Some of Pacquaio’s fights have been the best in history and the biggest sellers in history (his fight with Mayweather for example) and here is what I think his top ten fights are.
10. Chatchai Sasakul – WBC, Lineal Flyweight titles- 1998
Pacquiao captured the WBC and lineal flyweight titles (his first major boxing world title) over Chatchai Sasakul by way of knockout in the eighth round. This would be the start of his world championship career, he defended the title once and moved up in weight.
9. Lehlohonolo Ledwaba – IBF Super Bantamweight title – 2001
This fight was considered Pacquiao’s big break. On June 23 he would take on IBF Super Banatamweight champion, Lehlohonolo Ledwaba. Pacquiao would win the fight via TKO is the sixth round and prove his dominance in the division.
8. Jessie Vargas – WBO Welterweight title – 2016
Proving that age is no barrier and coming off a win from the after the loss at the Mayweather fight, Pacquaio stepped into the ring again for his third attempt at being the WBO Welterweight champ. He would succeed easily in defeating Vargas in a lopsided fight that saw Pacquiao drop Vargas in the second round and curse to victory from there.
This would be his third Regin as the WBO Welterweight champ after losing the title to Mayweather and this would bring the Pacquaio v Horn fight to reality.
7. Chris Algieri – WBO Welterweight Title – 2014
In the only defence of his titles of this list Pacquaio defended his title against undefeated Light Welterweight champion Chris Aligeri. The fight was to be at 144 pounds not he standard 147 weight limit. Algieri could not make the weight on the first attempt and had to go to long lengths to get the weight limit met.
This was no concern of Pacquiao’s as he floored Algieri six times in the fight and cruised to one of his easiest wins of his career. This he really just a warm up fight to the Mayweather clash but still he great to watch.
6. Juan Manuel Márquez (2) – WBC, The Ring and Lineal Super Featherweight Titles -2008
This fight was a close, hard fought battle, during which both fighters received cuts. Throughout the fight, Márquez landed the most punches at a higher percentage; however, the decisive factor proved to be a third-round knockdown, wherein Márquez was floored by a Pacquiao left hook.
At the end of the fight, the judges’ scores were 115–112 for Pacquiao, 115–112 for Márquez and 114–113 for Pacquiao With the victory, Pacquiao won the WBC, The Ring and lineal super featherweight titles] making him the first Filipino and Asian to become a four-division world champion, a fighter who won world titles in four different weight divisions
5. David Diaz – WBC Lightweight Title – 2008
A dominant performance that ended in a TKO in the ninth round as Pacquaio hurt Diaz in the four with a bad cut to his eye. After the fight Diaz respected Pacquiao’s speed, power and defence. With the victory he would become a five time champ over five different divisions.
4. Antonio Margarito – WBC Light Middleweight title – 2010
The fight for the vacant WBC Light Middleweight title gave Pacquiao the chance to win a world title in his eighth weight class, the light middleweight, or super welterweight, division. A catchweight of 150 pounds was established for the fight, although the weight limit for the light middleweight division is 154 pounds.
During the pre-fight, Pacquiao weighed in at a low 144.6 pounds, while Margarito weighed in at the limit of 150 pounds. Pacquiao said he was pleased with his weight because he loses too much speed when he gains pounds. During the fight itself, Pacquiao weighed 148 lbs, 17 pounds lighter than Margarito’s 165
In the fight, Pacquiao defeated Margarito via unanimous decision, using his superior handspeed and movement to win his eighth world title in as many divisions. In the penultimate round, Pacquiao implored referee Laurence Cole several times to stop the fight as Margarito had a swollen face and a large cut beneath the right eye, but the referee let the fight continue.
Margarito had to be taken directly to the hospital after the fight, where it was discovered his orbital bone had been fractured; he had to undergo surgery
3. Marco Barrera (1) – The Ring and Lineal Featherweight titles – 2003
On November 15, 2003, Pacquiao faced Marco Antonio Barrera at the Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas, in a fight that many consider to have defined his career. Pacquiao, who was fighting at featherweight for the first time, brought his power with him and defeated Barrera via technical knockout in the eleventh round, only the second knockout loss in Barrera’s career.
He won The Ring and lineal featherweight championships, making him the first Filipino and Asian to become a three-division world champion, a fighter who won world titles in three different weight divisions. He defended the title twice before relinquishing it in 2005.
2. Migel Cotto- WBO Welterweight Title -2009
Pacquiao dominated the fight, knocking Cotto down in Round 3 and Round 4, before the referee stopped the fight at 0:55 of Round 12With this victory, Pacquiao took the WBO Welterweight title, was awarded the WBO Super Championship title and became the first seven-division world champion, the first fighter in boxing history to win world titles in seven different weight divisions Pacquiao also won the first and special WBC Diamond Championship belt.
This belt was created as an honorary championship exclusively to award the winner of a historic fight between two high-profile boxers. 2009 was a great year for Pacquaio and his number one fight certainly is reason why.
So everything that he had accomplished over the years what is his number one fight, this fight or should I say knockout is the reason it is number one. It’s the best knockout I have seen in years.
1. Ricky Hatton – IBO, The Ring and lineal light welterweight titles – 2009
In what was Pacquiao first fight in the division, he would take on Ricky Hatton, the man that ended Kostya Tszyu’s career and had only had one lost in his 46 fight career this far, Floyd Mayweather.
This was billed as East meets West and the fight of 2009. Hatton stared off aggressively chasing Pacquaio around the ring but did not land anything clean and Pacquaio knock down Hatton twice with counter punches.
In the second round Hatton looked to recover but in the final seconds of the round Pacquaio delivered the cleanest left hook that would of knocked a barn over right in Hatton’s button knocking him out before he hit the ground.
This was given the knockout of 2009 and what I think is the best knockout punch since Mike Tyson early days or Ali v Liston 2. With this the fight pretty much ended Hatton’s career as he only fight again once in 2012 and lost.. This is without doubt my number one and best Pacman fight.
Do you agree with my list? What is your favourite Pacquaio fight? And you guessed it right there will be a list for Jeff Horn coming next.
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