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Is Manny Pacquiao due for a knockout?
http://forums.doghouseboxing.com/ind...howtopic=75925
By Recah Trinidad
Inquirer
Last updated 02:42am (Mla time) 09/06/2006
Published on Page A29 of the September 6, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
DO YOU REMEMBER the last time Manny Pacquiao had to pick himself up from the floor after suffering a knockdown?
You, too, must have forgotten. It happened three years ago, on March 15, 2003 to be exact, in a fight at the Luneta Park in Manila.
It’s not easy to remember, much more spell out, the name of the tall, famished Kazakh fighter who tagged Pacquiao with a straight to the chin that sent the pride of General Santos City down on his knees.
That knockdown came in the third round. Pacquiao sprang back to stop the lean visitor in the fifth to essay another escape act.
Of course, that decking was anything but accidental.
Before that, there was that incident on Oct. 14, 2000, when Pacquiao fell cross-eyed, his face on the canvas, after taking a left to the face. The guy who floored Pacquiao was Australia’s Nedal Hussein in Antipolo City. Pacquiao, however, got some hilarious help from the referee -- who suddenly forgot to count fast and right -- to survive, before being declared TKO winner in the 10th round.
* * *
It may not be worth recalling, those falls that would again bare a chink in the Pacquiao armor.
That last crash came a little over three years ago. But to Pacquiao fanatics, it must’ve happened in another lifetime.
In fact, there are many Pacman devotees who were amazed to learn that their idol had, indeed, suffered at least two knockout losses in his career -- against Arnulfo Torrecampo in 1996 and Medgoen Singsurat of Thailand in September 1999.
This could only be blamed on the air of invincibility that has started to envelop the Pacquiao legend.
But has Pacquiao, based on his sensational wins, become unstoppable?
* * *
The truth is that, more than anybody else, Pacquiao knows he does not own a sure antidote to the dreaded disease called a knockout.
This could be the only reason why he kept making the Sign of the Cross before trading leather with foes.
For a fact, Pacquiao appeared only one good blow away from crashing in the third round of his last fight against Oscar Larios at the Araneta Coliseum in July.
Before that, Pacquiao himself would admit to selected friends that he was momentarily in queer streets in the second round against Mexican Erik Morales, whom he went on to stop in the 10th round in Las Vegas last January.
* * *
Anyway, we talk here of the possibilities of knockout because majority of fans -- 75 percent of the bulk -- polled by BoxLatino.com predicted an early ending to the Nov. 18 rubber match between Pacquiao and Morales.
These voters gave Morales a 38.32 percent approval rating (to score a KO), with Pacquiao getting 36.26.
That’s very close, but don’t tell it to boxing expert Hermie Rivera, who swears, tongue in cheek, that the only way Morales could beat Pacquiao is for Bob Arum to include former Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano among the judges.
You can bet Pacquiao would again be an outstanding favorite against Morales in their third encounter, called the Grand Finale.
But the reason Morales had gained an edge in the polls (to score a KO) was obviously the unexpected allowance Pacquiao has given for his Mexican rival to weigh past the original 130-lb. limit.
While Morales had had to agonize and wrestle with his unwilling body to make the limit in his last outing against Pacquiao, the legendary Mex will this time have the desired elbow room in their third encounter.
Unlike last time, Morales could eat enough and train twice as hard -- plus factors denied him last time. Let’s all pray the extra one or two pounds don’t provide the world of difference come KO time.
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Originally Posted by Danny_G
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