First time I saw him was against Chatchai. I had a friend who knew him from a local weekly boxing show and told me that Pacquiao had absolutely no chance. Of course, he won this by KO. To this day I could not forget the look in Chatchai's face when he got knocked out and could not get up.
I did not see the first Barrera fight. And some people did not believe he could win. But of course, that was history.
The thing is, at those lower weights, when you get hit with a Pacquiao punch, you get worn down and your skills deteriorate over time. And then, Pac's lack of skill didn't matter. That's why he was always underestimated. And everybody loves an underdog.
I'm not a Pac fan (though I don't dislike him either, I'm indifferent towards him and just hate some of his fans), but I've been watching him for a long time now and have seen a definite change.
I agree w/ you for sure. I always thought he was an exciting fighter, but early he was one-dimensional and too left hand heavy. He was never bad at all, but he also didn't seem to have the full game needed to be a great fighter.
Roach deserves most all of the credit for making Pac the guy he became. Roach isn't a "great" coach IMO, but he's a GREAT offensive coach. Freddie Roach was the best thing to ever happen to Pacquiao.
He molded Pac into a monster. Taught him angles/better stalking ability, and eventually, around the David Diaz fight I'd say, got him to be a more versatile offensive fighter by adding a great right hook to his arsenal.
To answer your question, no, I did not think Pac would become what he did. He's still one-dimensional and has a lot of flaws, but he's also progressed a lot since he came on the scene in the early 2000's.
Great question. I think it depends on how you define the term "Great".
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The first time I saw Pacquiao fight was in 2000. I figured he would win a few titles, up to featherweight, but I had no reason to believe he would be considered an ATG. I believed he had a chance only because the term "Great" is now so frequently thrown around.
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By 2005, I saw improvements but still didn't view Pacquiao as an ATG. I picked him to defeat Erik Morales but, again, Great is such an often used term that I couldn't place him there. He was certainly one of the best but I've always reserved the term "Great" for a select few.
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To give you an example, boxing has such a rich history that it's very easy to make up a Top 10 list in ANY division. It becomes a bit more challenging to make up a P4P list because it doesn't involve weight classes.
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That said, I believe that if you compile a Top 10 list, depending on the class, there might a significant difference between Number 1 and Number 10. However, if you compile a P4P list, the gap between 1 and 10 narrows.
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Example. Sugar Ray Robinson is almost universally regarded as the greatest 147 lb. fighter of all. Pick your #10 and I can almost guarantee you that, out of 100 polled, NO ONE will place that fighter above Robinson.
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Now go to heavyweight and pick Muhammad ALI. Slightly fewer would place him at number one but you would still be hard-pressed to find anyone who would place #10, whoever that might be on ANY list, above ALI.
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By that perception, Pacquiao would likely appear on many Top 10 lists, in some of his respective divisions. However, it is FAR less likely that he appears above 20 on any competent P4P list.
Pac has no left hook Ghazan especially in the mid 90's and early 2000. What Pac had was a great straight left and a barrage of come what may punches That's Manny ever since. No i dont think Pac will become an all time great to answer your question. What we (long time pacfans) knew that when Pacquiao unleashes that straight left and it lands, we expect somebody to lie on his back.
He actually lost me as a fan the moment he ducked Mayweather using the afraid of needles excuse. I couldn't believe a fighter would actually avoid the biggest fight of the century over not wanting to be tested. It's obvious, even more so now that his ok with testing, Manny used the testing makes me weak excuse to duck Floyd. If Manny had man up and took the test and fought Floyd, win or lose I would have still been a fan, a bigger Manny fan then A Floyd fan even thought am not really a Floyd fan.
maybe being one dimensional doesnt matter to roach, not even to arum and oscar bc i remember the two fightin over pacquiao... roach took pac under his wing right after he got ktfo in thailand, arum battled oscar in the court to get pac even after he lost to morales...
i dont know whats the big deal to you guys, but boxing bosses definitely saw something in pacquiao that upto now you aint able to see... even floyd was able to see it, but you...you guys dont have it
If you been following pacquiao since the 90s or early 2000s..did you ever think at the time that he would become an AtG?..I've been watching some of his fights from the 90s..and all I see is a one-dimensional slugger with a good chin and a great left hook.
