Too Easy

I remained stunned, absolutely stunned by Manny Pacquiao's oh-so-easy knockout of Ricky Hatton. The Filipino is the greatest fighter of this era, and in my estimation the best since Sugar Ray Leonard. The other candidates (for the best of the era) would be Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones, and Floyd Mayweather, but none of them approaches his resume. Pacquiao has seven wins against future hall-of-famers, with just one loss. Hopkins has three, maybe four, with losses to Jones and Calzaghe. Mayweather has perhaps six, but half of those (Diego Corrales, José Luis Castillo) are borderline. Plus, Mayweather ducked more than a mallard at 140 and up. And Jones has just three.

Two elements of Pacquiao's career are, if not unprecedented, phenomena that I've never seen before in a boxer. The first is how he developed as a fighter even after he was at the top of the sport. The Pacquiao that drew with Márquez moved straight forward and threw the one-two again and again. That's about it. His footwork was awful and his combinations were uncreative. His defense (aside from his superhuman reflexes) was not great and he could be turned silly on the inside. He didn't seem to fight with any strategic plan in mind. This was when he was 24 and already had three belts. But Pacquiao learned from all the great boxers he fought, especially (it seems to me) Márquez and Morales. The last couple of times out Pacquiao has been not only a strong, athletic fighter, but a complete one as well. Almost always, once guys get to the top of the sport, they learn to compensate for their shortcomings, but they rarely eliminate them. They can add offensive wrinkles, but they rarely remake themselves. Pacquiao has done both. 

Second, I've never seen a fighter carry his pop with him as he jumped up in weight the way Pacquiao has. He has looked stronger in his last three fights (at 135, 147, and 140) than he ever did at 126 and 130 (where he looked pretty darn strong). The way he blew right through Hatton suggests that there are lots of fighters at 147 with whom he could stand and trade.