After many, many years spent talking about it Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Manny Pacquiao will finally get in the ring together and decide who is the greatest fighter of their generation in a bout being dubbed “The Fight of the Century.”
To get you warmed up for this epic clash, and to also remind you why this is a fight the world has been waiting for we present to you the greatest knockouts in the two fighters’ illustrious careers.
Today, we look at Pacquiao.
The start of something special
A big part of Pacquiao’s story is the fact that he started boxing professionally at age 16, sometimes putting rocks in his pockets in order to make weight.
Well, flashforward a few years to 1998 when Pacquiao, having only recently turned the tender age of 20, wins his first major boxing title over then-WBC flyweight champion Chatchai Sasakul with a left hand that would eventually catapult him into superstardom.
Pacquiao stops Barrera
Every great fighter in history has a defining moment in his career, one that lets that world know that he has arrived. For Pacquiao, that moment came in 2003 when he fought famed Mexican fighter Marco Antonio Barrera.
Coming into the fight Barrera had earned a reputation as one of the sport’s true tough guys as he had never lost a decision due to a stoppage of any kind. That is until he came face-to-face with the “Pac-Man.”
Pacquiao was able to score a stunning technical knockout against Barrera in the 11th round of their bout, coming at the Mexican like a hurricane and landing punches at all sorts of angles and forcing Barrera’s corner to throw in the towel and stop the fight.
”Maybe I should no longer be doing this”
The two clips you see above are the spectacular finishes in parts two and three of the epic Pacquiao-Erik Morales trilogy – one of the greatest three-bout series boxing’s ever seen.
As you can see in both cases, Pacquiao finishes these two 2006 fights in a fashion that only he was capable of. These fights represent Pacquiao at his very best: an unrelenting wave of punches that are as fast as they are powerful coming at the opponent at angles no one thought possible.
It’s no wonder that after the third fight Morales was quoted as saying, “maybe I should no longer be doing this.”
Beaten to a pulp
Pure annihilation. There really is no other way to describe Pacquiao’s 2008 ninth-round knockout against David Diaz.
Pacquiao swarmed Diaz all night long, using his right hand to great effect, leaving Diaz bloody, swollen and face first on the canvas.
Click, click boom!
Poor Ricky Hatton. Coming into this 2009 bout his only professional loss was to Mayweather, who finished him in destructive fashion, only to eat an atomic bomb a measured left uppercut straight to the chin from Pacquiao in the second round.
Manny makes history
Miguel Cotto is one of the most well-respected and toughest fighters in the sport so when he comes out and says that Pacquiao “is one of the best boxers we have of all time” that statement doesn’t come lightly.
Cotto said this after fighting Pacquiao in November 2009 where he was thoroughly out-classed throughout the fight – getting knocked down in rounds three and four – until Pacquiao finished it in the 12th round after the referee had finally seen enough.
This knockout was significant not only because it’s impressive to see any fighter beat Cotto — let alone score a knock out against him — but with the win Pacquiao became the first ever seven-division world champion.