Pacman Fever

At the age of 30, Manny is a 14-year pro—he made his debut at 16. He has been fighting at the top levels of competition and given some of the most exciting performances in the ring in recent years. He is a national hero in his native Philippines the entire country comes to a virtual standstill whenever he fights. Manny is also recognized by most observers as the best fighter at any weight in the ring today—the best "pound for pound" fighter. With all of his accomplishments, which someday will surely be immortalized in the Hall of Fame, Manny is coming off the biggest win of his career in his last fight on December 6—a dominant eighth-round TKO against former junior lightweight, lightweight, super lightweight, welterweight, two-time super welterweight, and middleweight world champion Oscar De La Hoya—the biggest name in the sport and a sure future Hall of Famer himself.

Manny was considered a huge underdog by most observers—and the fight a mismatch—because of their extreme difference in size. Manny weighed 134.5 pounds when he won the WBC lightweight world title in his previous fight in June, 2008. De La Hoya last held a world title at 154 pounds, and weighed 150 in his previous fight in May, 2008. Boxing's time-honored conventional wisdom says that, "A good big man beats a good small man."

After the fight, Dan Rafael wrote on ESPN.com, "Pacquiao stunningly administered a beat down of epic proportions. [De La Hoya] was never in the fight for a moment. Pacquiao won his third fight of the year in his third weight division, including winning two titles. The victory makes Pacquiao something of a modern-day Henry Armstrong, the all-time great pound-for-pound legend who over the course of ten months from October 1937 to August 1938, claimed, in order, the world featherweight, welterweight and lightweight championships—back when there were only eight divisions." Fightwriter.com's Graham Houston reported from ringside, "So many people got it so wrong. What some thought would be a mismatch turned out to be a mismatch in reverse when Manny Pacquiao pasted Oscar De La Hoya for eight rounds in the so-called Dream Match in Las Vegas," Houston wrote. "Far from being the weaker, smaller man, Pacquiao looked much stronger and also much harder-hitting than De La Hoya. Pacquiao was the puncher in the fight. Right from the start he was hurting De La Hoya. "His upper-body movement and quick moves had the older fighter looking perplexed. The speed and power of Pacquiao's punches actually seemed to shock De La Hoya, who looked old, slow and painfully vulnerable. "Just 19 months earlier [De La Hoya] had fought Floyd Mayweather Jr.—the world's number one at the time—to a close, split decision. This time, as a 2-1 on favorite at the MGM Grand sports book before the line was taken down, De La Hoya looked as if he didn't belong in the same ring as Pacquiao. "Pacquiao punched with excellent technique from his southpaw stance, sharp and accurate, and he was superior in every department and in fact was made to look a bit of a bully, such was the one-sided nature of the affair."

He has held world titles in four weight divisions—he won the WBC flyweight world title two weeks before his 20th birthday in December, 1998, the IBF junior featherweight world title at 22 in 2001. Manny won the WBC super featherweight world title in March, 2008, with a 12 round decision victory in the rematch against defending champion Juan Manuel Marquez. It was one of the most highly-anticipated fights of the year, and one of the most exciting. He won the WBC lightweight world title in June, 2008, with a ninth-round TKO against defending champion David Diaz. Manny was named "2006 Fighter of the Year" by the Boxing Writers Association of America and The Ring. From TheRing-online.com: "It's amazing what a little guy with a big smile and an even bigger punch can accomplish. While the heavyweight division was bogged down by mediocrity last year, the junior lightweight class soared to new heights thanks in large part to Manny Pacquiao, The Ring's 2006 Fighter of the Year." Manny's nickname is "PacMan."