Bob Arum explains Manny Pacquiao's knockout drought
The last time Manny Pacquiao stopped an opponent was more than four years ago. Pacquiao, in his second fight as a welterweight, dropped Miguel Cotto twice in that fight and Referee Kenny Bayless stopped the fight at the 12th round to prevent Cotto from taking more damage.
Since then, Pacquiao has only managed five decision wins and two losses. Ultimately, people started to question his hunger as a fighter. Robert Garcia, the trainer of Brandon Rios said that Pacquiao is no longer the same fighter he was three years ago. Even Timothy Bradley, his upcoming opponent, opined that the Filipino puncher lost his killer instinct.
However, Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum said that people who think Pacquiao is no longer the same fighter are missing the point.
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“As we age, we’re not the same as we were when we were a little younger, so that’s clearly the case for everybody,” Arum said in an interview with Robert Morales of Boxing Scene.
“Manny Pacquiao, I think showed in the Rios fight that he knew hot to go back to his roots. People looked at Pacquiao as being a knockout puncher because they remember the fight with Ricky Hatton, where he laid Hatton out.”
The ageless promoter said that knocking out people in the welterweight division has not been Pacquiao’s mode of operation.
“But the truth is that Manny Pacquiao’s strength was never as a knockout puncher. He was the kind of guy, and is the kind of guy, that is very elusive and comes from all angles, that has a southpaw style that scores punches,” Arum said. “And he’s so quick and when you counter him, he disappears. I mean, look at the Oscar de la Hoya fight. He never had Oscar in serious trouble of getting knocked out, but he just beat the [expletive] out of him.”
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Arum then said that what Pacquiao did to de la Hoya was the same as what he did to Rios.
“He fought the same kind of fight with Rios as he did with de la Hoya. So people who say ‘Hey, he’s a great knockout puncher because he knocked out Hatton,’ just are missing the boat,” Arum said. “We don’t have a guy who is a one-punch knockout guy, that Hatton fight notwithstanding.”
However, for his upcoming fight against Bradley, there is extra motivation for Pacquiao to go for the kill as everyone is starting to doubt his ability to do so.
