Manny Pacquiao: Best Fighter of My Generation Period!

What else can you say about Manny Pacquiao that hasn't been said already? This much is clear, he is simply the greatest boxer I have ever seen in my young lifetime and I'm only 24. I've seen the best fighters over the years making their marks in previous generations of my family. From Tyson to Felix Trinidad, but I can honestly say the one boxer I will be talking about as long as I live is Manny Pacquiao. Looking back at this fight one thing became clear in my eyes: Manny Pacquiao is on a whole other level and is arguably the greatest athlete in all of sports today.

He simply made the fight look so easy; and in terms of hand speed, I've never seen anything like it. Even a Mayweather is his prime is a close second. Margarito looked like a towering figure beside Manny then they went toe to toe,and add to the fact that Margarito came into the fight well over 160 lbs; many including myself felt the key was for Margarito to cut the ring off and make his mark against the ropes. The problem was that when he did have Manny there, Manny had an answer. Margarito threw his best offensive firepower, but Manny against the ropes brung the action right back to Margarito once he was on the ropes. It was utterly amazing, and even though there were some tense moments along the ropes, Manny took Margarito's best shots.

Add that to another factoid to last night's fight. Manny showed he could take a punch from a legit junior welterweight. His ability to take punches as he's gone up in weight against much bigger men is simply amazing. And his power has come up with the weight gain over the past three years is just as impressive, granted it's not the one punch KO power of a Tyson or Foreman. After 12 rounds, he make Margarito's face look like a quarter pounder afterwards. His gameplan was flawless, and he's changed the course of many fighters' career for those he's fought.

He retired Oscar De La Hoya after eight brutal rounds. Ricky Hatton life is in shambles right now in the UK after being laid out by PacMan. Miguel Cotto, who I'm very fond of as a Puerto Rican fighter; is a shell of himself after the beatings given to him by Margarito and Pacquiao. Seems Joshua Clottey disappeared from the face of the Earth after covering up for 12 rounds with Manny in March. Now we'll see what happens after this fight for Margarito.

So of course the question always remains: When will see Pacquiao-Mayweather? The answer is simple: When Mayweather has the guts if he has any to take the fight. It would be an utter shame on the sport if this fight never happens. Some fights aren't meant to dream about for eternity, of course everyone would pay to watch a Tyson in his prime against a prime Ali. But for my money, Pacquiao-Mayweather is the biggest fight in terms of PPV buys and money in the history of the sport.

Is Mayweather afraid of losing that "0" on his record? Of course, but history shows that the greatest boxers of all time all lose at some point, so deal with it. Ali lost 5 times in his career; hell even Manny Pacquiao has lost 3 times and one of them was years before we ever heard of him. At the end of the day, Manny Pacquiao's body of work over his career far surpasses Mayweather's at this point. The only thing he has is that 0 and being a world champion in many divisions, but not as many as Manny. Manny now holds the distinction of holding EIGHT world titles in EIGHT divisions. And with that, he's the only boxer in history to being a linear champion in four of those eight weight classes (winning every sanctioned belt in one division, an undisputed champion). 

Manny Pacquiao is a force, and one of the greatest boxers in history. And like I said on Saturday's show, enjoy this now because we may never seen anything like him again.