Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KO’s) has become the quite the collector of paper titles in recent years. For some reason, he seems intent on collecting as many as he can before he retires from boxing. On November 13th, Pacquiao will be fighting Antonio Margarito for the vacant WBC junior middleweight title. This will be Pacquiao’s 8th world title if he’s successful in beating the disgraced Margarito. But what’s the point in Pacquiao collecting all these titles if he’s not fighting the best champion of each division? Back in November, Pacquiao fought then WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto at a catch weight. Instead of fighting WBA welterweight champion Shane Mosley – the fighter considered to be the best of the welterweight champions last year – we got to see Pacquiao go after Cotto. Of course, Pacquiao beat him. There was no question he was going to beat Cotto, because Cotto hasn’t looked the same since being taken apart by Margarito in 2008.
When Pacquiao fought for the lightweight title in 2008, he fought WBC lightweight champion David Diaz instead of IBF/WBA/WBO lightweight champion Nate Campbell. I don’t know of too many people who thought that Diaz was better than Campbell. But why is Pacquiao fighting the weaker champions instead of the very best fighters at each weight? It seems to me that if Pacquiao is going to be collecting trinkets, he should at least fight the best fighters. What point is there to be collecting titles if the knowledgeable boxing fans seem them without much value?
Sure, the ignorant boxing fans will admire Pacquiao for having won eight world titles, but what value is there from someone who doesn’t have much of a clue about the sport? If Pacquiao wants the respect of boxing fans, he should go after the best fighters in each weight class when he’s looking to add another title to his collection. I don’t count Pacquiao’s title wins in the flyweight, super bantamweight, super featherweight, lightweight and welterweight divisions.
I think Pacquiao lost his fight to Juan Manuel Marquez when he defeated him by a controversial 12 round decision in 2008 for the WBC super featherweight title. And I wasn’t impressed with Pacquiao’s wins at flyweight, super bantamweight, super featherweight, lightweight and welterweight because I feel that those wins didn’t come against the best of the champions at the time.
Basically, I see Pacquiao as never having won a legitimate title where he beat the best in the division, and I won’t count his win over Margarito for the vacant WBC junior middleweight title on November 13th. I don’t see Margarito as a fighter that deserves to fight for the title because he’s only fought at junior middleweight once in the past six years. And I don’t see Pacquiao as a worthy challenger for the title because he’s never fought at junior middleweight before.
If Pacquiao wanted to fight for a title at junior middleweight, then he should have done it while Sergio Martinez was still the champion instead of waiting until he had vacated the title to go after it. That’s weak. But if Pacquiao is going to go after one of the junior middleweight titles, he should fight Sergeii Dzinziruk, the WBO champion, because he’s probably the best fighter in the division right now. I don’t consider Cotto being better than him. Cotto is another paper champion in my view.
credits: pacquiaovsmargarito.net
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