Manny Pacquiao is like Bruce Lee

Many readers have commented on the upcoming Manny Pacquiao vs Miguel Cotto fight on November 14.

Among the more memorable messages is this one, from a Chinese fan: “NICE PACMAN YOUR GREAT…FROM CHINA PEOPLE..YOU LIKE BRUCE LEE HERE IN OUR PLACE….”

The comparison is interesting, because Pacquiao and Lee have at least one thing in common – both were born in the house of Sagittarius (Lee’s birthday was November 27 1940, and Pacquiao’s is December 17 1978).

At a stretch it’s worth noting that two of Pacquiao’s greatest wins have occurred within a fortnight of what would have been Lee’s birthday – his TKO win over Marco Antonio Barrera (November 15, 2003) and his third-round KO of Erik Morales (November 18, 2006). Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Pacquiao agreed to fight Cotto on November 14!

Lee was famous for his abilities as a martial arts fighter, as well as being a movie star, but it seems he tried his hand at boxing too – with great success of course.

According to Wikipedia, Lee won the 1958 Hong Kong Inter-School Boxing Championship by incorporating tactics from the martial art, Wing Chun.

Lee died at the age of 32 on May 10, 1973, more than five years before Pacquiao was born.

Source: http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/longdrop/2009/10/19/manny-pacquiao-is-like-bruce-lee/

PACQUIAO WATCH: Asia’s best guns for immortality

FILIPINO boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao is set to leave for the United States Saturday where he will resume training for his November 14 title fight against Puerto Rican Miguel Angel Cotto. Pacquiao will try to wrest Cotto’s World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight crown and annex his seventh title in as many weight divisions.

Although the emergence of a cacophony of alphabet soup titles has watered down the prestige of boxing titles, Manny’s quest for immortality takes no precedence.

No fighter has ever done it before.

In fact, no fighter who started his professional career at 106 pounds has ever invaded the featherweight ranks and took away titles along the way.

Manny is gate-crashing into a weight class that has been dominated for decades by pugilists from the Americas. For all the boxing greats that trotted the welterweight division before, none of them has ever come from Asia.

A look to the Hall of Fame of boxing, Pacquiao had already eclipsed all Asian fighters in the history of the sport.

He captured his first boxing title two weeks before his 20th birthday by stunning undefeated Thai hero Chatchai Saisakul via an eight-round knockout.

He lost his World Boxing Council flyweight title when he failed to tip the scales, eventually dropping a third round knockout loss in an ensuing non-bearing bout.

He however bounced back and shocked South African Lehlohonolo Ledwaba to capture the International Boxing Federation super bantamweight crown in the undercard of the De la Hoya-Castillo light middleweight title fight in June 2001.

Little did Pacquiao know he would fight Oscar de la Hoya as a welterweight seven years after appearing on the same boxing card.

Pacquiao however broke into international fame when he pummeled Mexican great Marco Antonio Barrera, then reigning featherweight king, into throwing the towel in eleven rounds - six fights and two years later as a small featherweight.

The rest has been history as Manny would wrest titles in the super featherweight, lightweight and super lightweight by defeating Juan Manuel Marquez, Juan Diaz and Ricky Hatton in the same order.

In his fifteen years of professional boxing, Manny fought, both figuratively and literally, bigger opponents – the most memorable of them Oscar de la Hoya whom he forced to quit on the stool after eight rounds of welterweight boxing in December last year.

Against Cotto, Manny will be fighting in just his third fight north of the 140 pound limit.

Cotto has never fought below the 135-pound limit and is a natural welterweight where he was undefeated until Antonio Margarito knocked him out in July 2008.

Not only is Cotto naturally bigger than Pacquiao, the Puerto Rican is also stronger and younger. Some are saying Cotto is already a shot after his brutal defeat from Margarito.

Whatever it is, a victory over Cotto will place Manny in the solo and enviable spot as the only fighter in the history of boxing to capture seven world titles in seven different weight categories.

Manny is a once-in-a-generation, perhaps in a lifetime, specimen of a boxer gifted with physical attributes that defy physics and demolish conventional wisdom that a good bigger fighter will defeat a smaller good fighter.

A win over Cotto will not only solidify his place in the pantheon of all-time boxing greats, it will also be a triumph of Asians in a sport that was once a fixture of American arenas and may have dated back in the early days of the gladiators.

No Asian sports lover will not celebrate his victory.

Source: http://philboxing.com/news/story-28421.html

Pacquiao abandons Baguio camp

Manny Pacquiao has uprooted his training camp in Baguio City for fear of being stranded there in the coming days owing to the fast-approaching storm that is expected to hit Northern Luzon either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Pacquiao, preparing for a Nov. 14 clash with Miguel Cotto, left Baguio City early Monday morning for Manila and was back in training mode right after noontime as he showed up at a gym in Mandaluyong owned and operated by ex-world champion Gerry Peñalosa.

Pacquiao is scheduled to leave for the US this Saturday and will make Peñalosa’s gym as the site of the remaining days of his training camp.

This afternoon, Pacquiao is booked to spar with Shawn Porter, Jose Luis Castillo and possibly against Urbano Antillon or Danny Escobar. Freddie Roach has also lined up the same cast when Pacquiao bangs bodies on Thursday and on Saturday.

The decision to leave Baguio City in haste stemmed from the possibility that Pacquiao might get stranded there in the event the storm causes massive flooding and landslides just like two weeks ago when roads were blocked going in and outside the resort city.

Roach said Pacquiao is already 75 percent condition and by the time they begin working out within the familiar confines of the Wild Card in Hollywood, the 30-year-old southpaw would be near peak-form.

Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/225516/pacquiao-abandons-baguio-camp

Pacquiao ahead of training schedule

Manny Pacquiao is surprisingly ahead of his training schedule, which is four days old, that he is now ready for sparring, the boxer’s American trainer said on Friday.

“This is our best start ever,” trainer Freddie Roach told The Bulletin on Friday after presiding over Pacquiao’s training at the Shape Up Boxing Gym at the Cooyeesan Hotel in Baguio City.

Roach is convinced that the Filipino is fit enough that he can start sparring sessions on Tuesday.

“Manny is going to be ready (to spar),” said Roach, who, in the past had to wait until 10 days or two weeks after the start of training camp before letting Pacquiao do some sparring.

Two sparmates -- unbeaten welterweight prospect Shawn Porter and lightweight star Urbano Antillon -- are arriving in the country tomorrow morning from Los Angeles and motor direct to Baguio from the airport.

While there is still seven-and-a-half weeks to go before Pacquiao faces Miguel Cotto on November 14 in Las Vegas, Roach believes they are not only right on track but a little bit ahead of schedule.

For the third straight day, Roach let Pacquiao hit the mitts for ten rounds after doing nine rounds on Tuesday, just hours after Roach landed in Manila from a 15-hour flight from Los Angeles and less than an hour after arriving in Baguio.

Pacquiao and Roach are camping out in the City of Pines possibly until the third week of October.

Meanwhile, over in Tampa, Florida, site of Cotto’s training camp, top trainer Joe Santiago expressed the belief that on fight night at the MGM Grand, the sheer size advantage of Cotto as well as his natural strength will prove to be very tough for Pacquiao to overcome.

“We have great respect for his speed and we take our hats off to what he’s done for boxing, but on the day of the fight, Miguel is going to be the stronger man in the ring,” Cotto taskmaster Joe Santiago told the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Dia.

Source: mb.com.ph