![]() The issue was so bad that De La Hoya’s team used IVs to try to get their fighter rehydrated. It was later determined that De La Hoya’s struggled to get down to the 147 limit, and in the process weakened himself severely by fight night. Instead, De La Hoya was utterly destroyed by Pacquiao, who’s faster hands were too much for a De La Hoya that was uncharacteristically lethargic. Many believed that De La Hoya, a former welterweight champion in the late 90s, would be far too big for Pacquiao. Later in 2008, Pacquiao shocked many by agreeing to face Oscar De La Hoya at welterweight. Instead of facing Campbell after dominating David Diaz, Pacquiao left the division without facing his best challenger at the weight. That was confirmed when Pacquiao gave Diaz a frightful beating. The consensus top fighter was Nate Campbell, who picked up the WBA, IBF and WBO titles when he defeated Juan Diaz in March of 2008. While tough, Diaz was the weakest titleholder in the division. When Pacquiao first moved to lightweight, he challenged WBC titlist David Diaz. For simplicity’s sake, I’ll compare their two careers from Pacquiao’s 2008 move to lightweight, and Duran’s 1978 move to welterweight. Pacquiao is naturally smaller than Duran, as noted in the fact the Pacman won his first title at flyweight. And in that regard, Duran hold a distinct edge over the Pacman. Personally, the deciding factor is always the level of competition, and how the fighter looked against that said competition. You always have to be careful when comparing fighters from different eras. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2007 with a final record of 103-16, 70 KOs. Roberto Duran competed in five different decades in a career that spanned from 1968-2001. ![]() Pacquiao will test his pound for pound abilities again on November 13, when he moves up to a junior middleweight catchweight of 150 pounds against Antonio Margarito. Manny can do that but he moves so quickly it’s hard for the opponent to nail him.” He’s got his own rhythm and he’s got that unique quick step. He’s got real hand speed but he also dares you to trade punches with him. “This guy shows himself to be phenomenal because he can come in at you, take your punch and then clip you with that straight left hand. Duran was strictly a power puncher and guys who could box and move gave him big problems,” Steward detailed. “Duran went up in weight, sure, but he was different than Manny. He notes that because of Pacquiao’s faster hands and feet, the Filipino champion hasn’t experienced the difficulty Duran encountered when pitted against opponents with good movement. He did just that by scoring wins over Carlos Palomino and Sugar Ray Leonard, both marvelous displays of counterpunching and infighting.īut Emmanuel Steward points out that Pacquiao’s shown more diversity with his skill set during his climb through the weights. Duran had dominated the lightweight division for the majority of the 70s, and now looked to become a superstar. In 1978, Roberto Duran jumped from lightweight to welterweight. He’s been responsible for great fights against other great fighters.” ![]() It’s kind of crazy, all that a blown up lightweight has been accomplishing. And another thing is that Manny does not dodge anybody. His real weight, his true weight I think is 138 pounds,” Steward explained. “The rest of his pounds they just fill him up. “I look at Manny as a lightweight and he’s dominating the welterweights and now fighting at junior middleweight. Steward states that Pacquiao has not ducked any challengers despite being a natural lightweight. In an interview with the Examiner’s Michael Marley, Steward first praised Pacquiao’s list of opponents since moving up to lightweight in 2008. Future Hall of Fame trainer Emmanuel Steward believes Manny Pacquiao’s recent title runs have displayed more skill than Roberto Duran’s previous weight class exploits.
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