Pacquiao Loses: End of a Career?
Once the undisputed champion of the world, Manny Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38 KOs), has dropped in the world rankings. It remained to be seen if the Filipino sensation could win in convincing fashion and return to the world stage of relevancy.
That answer was clear after his July 3rd performance: NO, Pacquiao could not!
The superstar fighter would end up losing a close fight on the scorecards. His opponent was a relatively unknown Australian talent: Jeff Horn who held a belt with a 17-0-1, 11 KO record.
This is the fourth loss in Pacquiao's last nine fights. It's quite clear he is no longer a knockout fighter and what once made him a sensational fighter is gone. His timing, speed, and power is why we watched all those years from 2009 and even 2015. The last two years, fans are increasingly convinced a number of other welter weights in the division are much better.
For now, we are watching the demise of a legend which is always hard to witness. Could you imagine if Canelo would have lost to Liam Smith last September, another foreign fighter with a belt and nice but unproven record. It would have thrown a wrench into boxing and fans would have murdered him for losing. It's a little different now since Pacquioa is 38 and Canelo is 27, but the same principals apply.
The one saving grace for Top Rank was this fight allowed for a successful premier on their new series with ESPN Boxing. Arum's departure from HBO was motivated by the fact the network no longer wanted to over pay for guys like Pacquioa, or Bradley, etc. Instead, HBO wants to go a different direction so Bob Arum and Top Rank packed up all their fighters and moved to ESPN. They say it's to maximize exposure for their fighters, but business is business and therefore, the money had to be right for them to move.
Despite Top Rank still living on the ghost of Manny Pacquioa, ESPN took full advantage as their first broadcast with Top Rank captured a reported 4.4 million viewers. Arum may have cashed his last chip in on Manny but as a parting gift, they paid their guy $10 million dollars, which is unheard of for a non-pay-per-view fight.
With respect to the actual fight, it really isn't all that important to go into the specifics. Some people will say it was a robbery, while others will sympathize with Horn and give him credit for hanging in with a fighter much more talented. The home town Australian fans also helped convince a few judges, I'm sure. For all the criticism, however, Jeff Horn, proved he is a tough kid was very game before his home town 50,000 fans. The repeated clash of heads did upset me and for that reason, I'm not really eager to see him again. He's almost in the Sean Porter category of watching ugly fights.
Top Rank's gamble on Manny was a 50/50 proposition and they lost. Sure, if Manny knocked out Horn it would have boost his stock and set him up for a mega fight late 2017. Instead, he lost the fight and is looking at a very undesirable rematch which again brings no big money to the table.
Aside from a dramatic 9th round that saw Horn almost take a knee or the fight stopped, I thought most of the fight was very boring. Manny didn't throw nearly enough to really convince the judges, and Horn didn't land enough to impress anyone.
If the Pacman can no longer close out against young bulls like Joe Horn, which I hate to say -- he looks like just a guy in a lot of boxing gyms across the States champing at the bit, he really stands little to no chance to ever reclaim greatness.
Money issues aside, I believe his legacy will be tarnished and only redeeming himself against Floyd would turn that around. A loss to Horn is two steps back from a rematch with Floyd ever taking place, which is unfortunate for the Filipino Star who fought EVERYONE in his prime.
