A new beginning for Manny Pacquiao

Manny Pacquiao proved in his one-sided beating of a tough and courageous Brandon "Bam Bam" Rios that his career is far from finished as some doomsday prophets predicted, and far from being the beginning of the end his career it is now embarking on a new beginning.

But from all indications it won't be the same storm racing across the Pacific as the venerable Larry Merchant once described him, sweeping away every fighter Top Rank promoter Bob Arum put in front of him en route to winning an unprecedented eight world titles in eight different weight divisions.

As we witnessed last Sunday, fight fans are going to see a far more methodical, calculating Pacquiao who will outbox any fighter in his weight division without taking any unnecessary risks or making careless mistakes that cost him his fourth fight with Juan Manuel Marquez when in the final ten seconds of recklessness he got caught with a perfectly-timed right counter that knocked the daylights out of him.

For those who were looking to Pacquiao to win by a knockout and point to the fact that he hasn't scored a stoppage in some four years, one is prompted to ask when did pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. score his last knockout.

No longer a 'finisher-destroyer'

HBO Sports commentator Jim Lampley put it succinctly in a post-fight interview with Dyan Castillejo and this reporter who covered the fight for The Filipino Channel of ABS-CBN when he said, "the only thing that was missing was that he (Pacquiao) wasn't willing to go in and stand there and take the risk necessary to try to knock Brandon Rios out and I think that's very intelligent and probably wasn't necessary because he was winning every round and it wouldn't have been the wisest choice to make."

The reason is that Pacquiao himself said that Rios hurt him once in the fifth or sixth round and if indeed Rios had the capacity to hurt Manny with one punch then there was no point in seeking the knockout.

As Lampley pointed out Pacquiao "got the win and satisfied the crowd and satisfied the need to get another showcase win to cement his legacy a little more and build a couple of more big fights down the road."

The widely respected Lampley said that while Pacquiao re-established himself as an elite fighter "he is not the same finisher-destroyer that he used to be and I don't think we are going to see that Manny Pacquiao again and that only makes sense."

We ourselves believe that being an exciting fighter doesn't necessarily mean having to be recklessly aggressive and knocking opponents out. Boxing in many ways is an art and a display of controlled aggression that accentuates the so-called sweet science. Pacquiao displayed all this in one of the finest exhibitions of boxing in years, reminiscent of the time he pulverized Oscar DeLa Hoya and ripped Miguel Cotto and Antonio Magarito who were all much bigger than Manny.

As he approaches his 35th birthday on December 17, Pacquiao realizes that after 17 years in the ring and through some tough wars against some of the best in eight different weight divisions, the fight game has taken a toll on his body more than anything else, and while his intense training camp in General Santos City over some three months and minus the past distractions helped put him in the best shape to face a tough, courageous fighter like Rios who had never been knocked down or out in his own career, the ferocity of a youthful Pacquiao was replaced by a thinking fighter who together with trainer Freddie Roach laid out a gameplan and executed it to near perfection in the ring.

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We may never see what Lampley described as the "finisher-destroyer" that was Pacquiao again, which makes perfect sense for a battle-scarred veteran.

Pacquiao always tips the scales less than the welterweight limit of 147 pounds - he weighed 145 for the Rios fight - and hardly adds any weight before he steps into the ring. Clearly, he will continue to face opponents who are bigger than him as shown by Rios who was 1 1/2 pounds heavier, two inches taller and enjoyed a reach advantage of some three inches.

Most of the possible opponents in the near-future are likely to be bigger than Manny and with strength and conditioning becoming an integral part of a fighter's preparation it will mean that knocking out opponents would become a harder task and that he would need to depend on his boxing skills and experience to prevail just as he showed against Rios last Sunday.

Avoiding a repeat of Marquez KO

While there may be some who were disappointed that Pacquiao didn't win by a knockout, it certainly does not diminish from his greatness as a fighter. We witnessed his domination of Rios in a fight where Manny demonstrated all the skills he needed to achieve a resounding victory without taking the kind of risks he took in the past.

One of the key factors that had an impact on Pacquiao's performance was his determination to wipe out the memory of his knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez last December 8 which he manfully put behind him by accepting the reality that it was part of the sport where "you win some, you lose some."

That he didn't plunge into a desperate bid to win by a knockout which Roach predicted would come within six rounds indicated that while he had put the KO loss to Marquez behind him and didn't allow it to affect him, he was mindful of the danger of being reckless in going for a knockout despite the fact that he probably could have taken Rios out in the 8th or 9th round. This was the sobering influence of his loss to Marquez.

It was also reflected in his training camp free of the usual crowds that disrupted his preparation and annoyed Roach at his Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles even though Roach recognized how much Manny meant to Filipinos who drove hundreds of miles just to get a glimpse of their hero.

Robert Garcia paid the finest compliment to an adversary in the ring - and outside - when he said "Manny is not only a great fighter, he is a great person. Everybody knows that. We respect him for what he has accomplished not only inside the ring but also outside."

A few hours after the fight and despite being tired and hungry Pacquiao attended a praise and worship service in the ballroom of the Venetian where a large crowd gathered to listen to him and to salute him for all he has done for the Filipino people and his country.

Pacquiao had helped regain the respect of the international community for the Philippines and redeemed the country's stature as a boxing power that could not be ignored.

When the terrible disaster caused by super typhoon Yolanda cut through the city of Tacloban and many other towns in the Visayas region, Manny told the vast gathering that he cried because of what had happened and the fact that he was in a crucial stage of his training and could not personally visit the devastated areas and help comfort the people as best he could.

Pacquiao has always dedicated his fights to his country and people but this time around there was the added emotional dimension of comforting millions who had suffered in a terrible tragedy and whose faith needed to be reinforced and their spirits lifted.

He recalled that "when I said this fight is for you, I meant all my countrymen who were affected by the disaster. I am so happy and thankful that God answered my prayers" even as he said his faith was strong that "we will all rise again."

Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post