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Home » How has the legendary Manny Pacquiao lost four times?

How has the legendary Manny Pacquiao lost four times?

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Manny Pacquiao has enjoyed a legendary career so far, but there’s a stunning statistic that not many can understand. A quartet of reverses.

As rival Floyd Mayweather enjoys a perfect record, Pacquaio holds far from it.

Here’s a look at how the ‘Pacman’ has lost four times:

Defeat Number 1 – Rustico Torrecampo

It was 1996, and an 18-year-old Manny Pacquiao (11-0, 4 KO’s) took on the 24-year-old Torrecampo at flyweight after fighting the previous 13 months at light-flyweight.

The bout took place at a catch-weight of 111lbs. Pacquiao came in a pound over. He was given a penalty by being made to wear heavier gloves during the fight.

Healthy favorite Pacquiao was stunned by Torrecampo with a devastating shot and knocked out – almost cold.

It happened thirty seconds into the third round by a man who had only five knockouts on his 11-4-4 record.

Compatriot Torrecampo would only win two more fights in his career and lost four, before retiring in 1997 at 25 without any significant titles.

The flyweight has since made an unexpected comeback after almost 14 years out of the ring at 38 in February 2011, knocking out Jovanie Bualan in three rounds and seemed to be embarking on a second attempted career. However, Torrecampo is yet to feature since.

Defeat number 2 – Medgoen Singsurat

Pacquiao (26-1, 17 KOs) seemed to learn a lot from his first defeat as he embarked on a fifteen fight unbeaten run, with thirteen of those inside the distance. He picked up the WBC flyweight title in the twelfth of those victories in 1998, beating champion Chatchai Sasaku with an eighth-round KO.

He took on Singsurat the next year, in his second defense at the age of 21. Singsurat held an unblemished 18-0 record. Hr was the same age as Manny and fighting for his first world title.

Pacquiao lost in the third round again, losing his world title within a year of claiming it. Despite dominating the opening rounds and looking a class above the Thai fighter.

Singsurat made two successful defenses of the WBC title before succumbing to Malcolm Tunacao.

He has fought 52 times since the Pacquaio victory, knocking out 37 opponents but has never returned to world-class.

The now 34-year-old is undefeated in his last eleven fights, with his career stalling for the past year, and it is unknown whether he will return so we can see what the “3-K Battery” has left.

Defeat number 3 – Erik Morales

In 2005, Manny Pacquiao (39-2-2, 30 KO’s) took on ‘El Terrible’ Erik Morales and, by this time, was a two-weight world champion. The ‘Pacman’ narrowly missed out on a third after drawing with Juan Manuel Marquez a year earlier and was an established name in the USA.

He was moving up a fourth weight class since turning pro and ran into a confident Morales at the height of his powers and lost a close unanimous decision in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao would avenge the defeat a year later. He knocked out Morales in the tenth round of a pulsating contest at the Thomas and Mack Center. Before scoring a stunning second in the rubber match ten months later, the only of his defeats that he would go on to reverse.

Morales, of course, we all know. The Mexican legend’s 2011 showing against Marcos Maidana at the age of 34 was an incredible display by a true master of the ring. Who knows whether the fourth meeting with Pacquiao is beyond him in the future?

Defeat 4 – Manny Pacquiao beat Timothy Bradley?

My feelings on Manny Pacquiao’s defeat to Bradley have been made clear in the past. I remain annoyed that the formidable fighter has a fourth loss on his record, going into a possible meeting with Floyd Mayweather in 2013.

The split decision against him was a shambles from the final bell onwards and will continue to irk until Pacquiao gains his revenge. The mission could happen on November 10 of this year.

Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s) at the time, took the fight 118-110 on my card after a scintillating display and was robbed by a terrible decision that was acknowledged by the vast majority of the boxing world’s media in the wake of the fight.

Hopefully, the Filipino Congressman will accept the rematch and can find his redemption at the same venue in the coming months. Before facing Mayweather next the spring in his defining contest.

Phil Jay is Editor of WBN. An Auxiliary member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow on Twitter @PhilDJay.