A fight is 30% power and 70% intelligence, a Taekwondo instructor told me. When I think about it, I thought that maybe he is right; particularly when I saw the rise of some fighters who are not so strong but exceptionally intelligent. Boxers who rely on strategy, on speed and accuracy, in psyching out their opponents in order to win. Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Evander Holyfield, Nonito Donaire and the unbeaten Floyd Mayweather are but some of the extremes of this category of fighters.
The “Lord of the boxing ring” was impartial to all of his pugilists. He gave his fighters 100% quota of power and intelligence to make the boxing match more exciting, fair and unpredictable. Meaning if the fighter has 70% power then he has only 30% intelligence and vice-versa. Moreover, if he has 60% intelligence then he will only have 40% power. It is a power against intelligence ratio and it is up to the fighters to put into good use what he has. I also noticed that there were other elements like speed and accuracy which are neutral but more manipulated and mastered by the intelligent class; although, as what we saw in the case of one "Filipino boxer": Speed and power is a deadly combination.
There is no doubt that Manny Pacquiao belongs to the power class of boxers. Even in his early fights as an amateur, he is a sight to watch; as he is almost just standing punching and being punch, no hold barred, until his opponent is lying on the canvass knocked out by one of his power punches. His fame spreads like a wildfire especially in the boxing community of his homeland; and as expected, soon he became a champion. Except that when he went to a foreign land to defend his title, he miserably lost. According to some boxing critics, he was so overweight during weigh in that he has to stop all the intakes of food and water to achieve the official weight. It seems that the rumor was true as it shows in the fight when he kneels in the middle of the bout and cannot go on, probably because of the starvation which he undergone before the boxing match.
In that fight, it appears that he was knocked out not even hit by a fatal blow and in the eyes of the fans that was a very unintelligent defeat. However, that was not him, for he showed his courage and determination when he finished and almost won a wild and bloody bout against “El Terrible” with bleeding eyebrow and an eye soaked and blinded by blood.
I thought that he would have gone to obscurity after that downfall. But while I was sitting in front of a TV set waiting for a championship fight of one of my favorite boxers, out of nowhere came the would be “pound for pound king” as a replacement fighter against a champion. When I watched the fight, I noticed that although his power was still there, he is a different boxer. There was "something" that was added in him which would be a big problem to anyone who will stand on his way, and you may ask why the boxing god allowed it. Nevertheless, the rest is History and that something never left his side, particularly during his crucial fights and on his rise to become one of the all time greatest boxers of the world.
That something has some imperfections, like it couldn’t solve “the puzzle of Juan Manuel Marquez”; but it radiantly manifests in his later fights where he showcase his ever changing style of boxing and his two fist power punch combination against bigger, taller and strong opponents.
“The Pacman” is a simple man. Before the fight, unlike other boxers, he does not predict the outcome of the fight. He does not choose his opponent either. “I am a fighter,” he said many times in his interviews, “my job is to fight”. However, simplicity like common sense and humility is a rare attribute; and it benefits the one who possess it since he does not waste much of his time and energy thinking. In addition, because of that, he cannot be psyche out; that is why the sting of boxers like Floyd Mayweather who has a cunning strategy before the fight has no damaging effect in him.
A simple person seldom leads and most of the time just follow instructions; and if he find the right leader or the right person to listen to, he could accomplish impossible feats. Simplicity like humility nowadays is a rare virtue, but it is the mother of all virtue; because with this virtue, a man listens and understand and cannot be easily shaken for his feet is deep rooted to the ground.
Without that something, Manny Pacquiao is an average fighter; as what transpires in some of his fights where that something was not on his side and all he can put up was a mediocre performance. He is not in his best without that something, and that something appears to be not so effective without him. They are mean for each other for it seems that that something could not make a miracle without Manny Pacquiao. Even before Manny Pacquiao became the pound for pound king, that something uttered that The Pacman is the strongest boxer in his division and even in other divisions. I do not rely in those words until later when time has proven that it is true.
We are all fighters fighting for our survival and for those people we love. To analyze what category of boxer you belong, I will ask you this question: that "something" is well known and has a name and one need not be intelligent to know; so please tell me what it is, or, if he is a person who is he.
ArlenKaliFuentes7/20/2010
Published November 10 2010
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