I thought I’d take a moment to celebrate the achievements of one of my favorite athletes of all time, Manny Pacquiao. He was a small Phillipino fighter who entered the ring weighting 104 lbs., won a belt at Flyweight (112 lbs.) and moved up the ranks until most recently, when he dismantled a bigger, stronger, ferocious opponent at Welterweight (145 lbs.).
Along the way he has collected belts in seven different weight classes. That is an all-time boxing record, for those keeping score. He is one of the fastest, most accurate punchers of all time, and every time he steps into the ring, you are guaranteed a high-intensity fight.
More than all of this, Manny is an extremely humble guy. He leaves the fate of his fights to his God, and says his job is to train hard and fight hard, and that’s it. This humility translates out of the ring as well. He carries the weight of his country on his shoulders, and does everything he can to help his people, many of whom are impoverished and sick.
This spirit is in stark contrast to his next most likely opponent, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., who is nothing if not delusional about his status in the boxing world. As one of the most technically sound boxer in history, Mayweather tends to confuse dominance with victory. Mayweather wins fights, Pacquiao dominates them.
To celebrate his seventh world title, I figured I would share a collection of the seven most notable opponents who have tried and failed to dethrone boxing’s true king.
