IN his last six fights, Manny Pacquiao lost twice. One on points, the other by knockout.
In his last six fights, Floyd Mayweather Jr. lost none. He knocked out one.
In his last three fights, Pacquiao won them all by unanimous decision.
In his last three fights, Mayweather won one by unanimous decision and two by majority decision.
In his last 64 fights, Pacquiao lost five times. Two on points, three by knockout. But he knocked out 38, drew with two.
In his last 47 fights, Mayweather lost none. He knocked out 26.
If Pacquiao can lose on points, then he can lose on points again.
If Pacquiao can be knocked out, then he can be knocked out again.
And since Mayweather has never lost, then he can never lose to Pacquiao?
What does Pacquiao need to do to inflict a first loss on Mayweather?
Pacquiao needs a knockout punch to win because defeating Mayweather on points is like saying Rain or Shine will beat Talk ‘N Text tonight without its import Wayne Chism.
In everything, there’s always a first time.
So, if Mayweather’s going to ever taste his first defeat, will it be Pacquiao doing the honors?
If yes, how?
Only by knocking out Mayweather.
Easier said than done, of course.
For Mayweather to be knocked out, Pacquiao must retrieve all of his punches from the day he turned pro in 1996. And unleash them all without letup from Round 1 up to Round 12.
By doing that, by sustaining the punches in bunches from beginning to end, it is most likely that one knockout punch could get through Mayweather’s cloak of invincibility. Just one punch.
The last knockout loss for Pacquiao came on December 8, 2012.
The last knockout win for Mayweather came in September 2011.
In that sixth-round knockout loss almost three years ago to Juan Manuel Marquez, everybody thought that was the end of the road for Pacquiao.
“I thought he was dead,” said Michael Koncz, the infamous Pacquiao adviser, as a stunned world watched Pacquiao lay almost motionless on the canvas following the knockout.
But in his first public appearance after the devastating debacle, Pacquiao said, “Do not worry. I will rise again.”
He came back to win his next three fights. He is on his fourth fight on Sunday in Las Vegas, against Mayweather.
In that fourth-round knockout win almost four years ago by Mayweather over Ortiz, everybody thought that was the crudest win yet scored by “The Money” since he turned pro in 1998.
“It was boxing’s foulest shot I’ve ever seen in many years,” said Jake P. Ayson, this paper’s Mr. Rulesman golf columnist.
Countered Mayweather: “A boxer should protect himself at all times.”
Mayweather unleashed the knockout punch on Ortiz while Ortiz was talking to referee Joe Cortez.
Because Cortez, in his seventies already, deemed Mayweather’s shot legal, Ortiz was doomed. All boxers should thus learn from Ortiz’s bitter defeat, including Pacquiao.
That against Mayweather, nobody’s safe.
That against Mayweather, winning is almost an impossibility.
For Mayweather, the smallest chink in his foe’s armor is a big enough reason to go for the kill.
Thus, Pacquiao, while his aggression can fuel a fiery win, cannot afford to be careless, reckless and clueless one teeny-weeny bit.
Yes, his only chance of winning is to squeeze in, sneak in a knockout punch, which is the hardest thing to achieve against a chap as wily and as deceptive a fighter as Mayweather.
Yes, Pacquio is the type that can brawl one to death; he has no equal in that aspect.
But he cannot clinch, he doesn’t know the art of boxing’s emblematic embrace, which is necessary when the going gets rough.
Alas, Mayweather has also mastered that, the main reason he hasn’t been really tagged that hard by any punch from his 47 previous foes.
We all want Pacquiao to win because he is our very own. If you cannot love your own, where did you come from? The big bang?
Yes, it is the Fight of the Century for its utter mystique, for the animosity developed through nearly six years of on-and-off bargaining.
But then, let it not be forgotten that this is more about money (how come the cheapest ticket to the fight is now a monstrous $5,245—and still rising?) than a fight between the unbeaten and the unshaken.
So, I now dare say: Watch out for the return bout in November, if not December.
Brace yourselves for the Rematch of the Century.
THAT’S IT. Whatever happens in Wednesday’s deciding Game Seven for the Philippine Basketball Association’s Commissioner’s Cup between Rain or Shine and Talk ‘N Text, the question begging for an answer is, “How come TNT’s Ivan Johnson scored only 6 points in ROS’s 101-93 victory in Game Six?”