World Boxing News recently celebrated the 50-0 achievements of Floyd Mayweather Jr. Now, WBN takes a look at how career rival Manny Pacquiao managed to lose seven times.
‘Pacman’ holds a record of 61-7-2 as a pro, with some of his defeats more controversial than others.
Turning to the paid ranks at the tender age of 16 years, one month and five days in 1995, Pacquiao gained experience fighting men from the word go.
Much like the current pound for pound number one Canelo Alvarez, Pacquiao dipped his toes in with much older campaigners when still a teenager of school age.
At just 18, things suddenly began to get very real for the young contender.
Here’s a rundown of all seven losses:
Defeat Number 1 – Rustico Torrecampo
It was 1996 and Manny (11-0, 4 KO’s at the time) took on the 24 year-old Torrecampo at flyweight. The move up came after fighting the previous 13 months at light-flyweight.
The bout was organised at a catch-weight of 111lbs, although Pacquiao came in a pound over. He was subsequently penalized by being made to wear heavier gloves during the fight.
Strong favourite Pacquiao was stunned by Torrecampo with a devastating shot and knocked out – almost cold. The end came thirty seconds into the third round and by a man who had only five knockouts on his 11-4-4 record.
It was an early wake-up call for Pacquiao’s career.
Moving forward, compatriot Torrecampo would only win two more fights in his career, losing four. He then retired in 1997 at the age of 25 without any significant titles to his credit.
The flyweight made an unexpected comeback after almost 14 years out of the ring at 38 in February 2011. Torrecampo knocked out Jovanie Bualan in three rounds. He hasn’t fought since.
Defeat number 2 – Medgoen Singsurat (3k Battery)
Pacquiao (26-1, 17 KO’s) seemed to learn a lot from his first defeat as he embarked on a fifteen fight unbeaten run. Thirteen of those came 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.
‘Pacman’ took on Singsurat the very next year in what was his second defense at the age of 21.
Singsurat held an unblemished 18-0 record and was the same age as Manny, fighting for his first world title.
Pacquiao was again knocked out in the third round, losing his world title within a year of claiming it. This is despite dominating the opening rounds and looking a class above the Thai fighter.
Singsurat eventually made two successful defenses of the WBC title before succumbing to Malcolm Tunacao.
He’s fought 52 times since the Pacquaio victory, knocking out 37 opponents without ever returning 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, Pacquiao (39-2-2, 30 KO’s) took on ‘El Terrible’ Erik Morales. And by this time was a two-weight world champion.
Pacquiao narrowly missed out on a third loss previously after drawing with Juan Manuel Marquez a year earlier. Facing Morales he was now an established name in the USA.
Moving up a fourth weight-class since turning pro, Pacquiao 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 by knocking out Morales in the tenth round of a pulsating contest at the Thomas and Mack Center. Before scoring a stunning second, seven rounds earlier in the rubber match ten months later.
Morales was the only of his defeats that he would go on to reverse.
We all know plenty about Morales. The Mexican legend’s 2011 showing against Marcos Maidana at the age of 34 was an awesome display by a true legend of the ring.
Sadly fights against Danny Garcia were a step too far in 2012.
Defeat 4 – Timothy Bradley
My feelings on Pacquiao’s defeat to Bradley have been made very clear in the past. It’s still annoying today that such travesties happen in the sport we love. But sadly, they still do to this day.
The split decision against Pacquiao was a shambles from the final bell onwards. The scoring continued to irk until Pacquiao gained his revenge, and then a rubber fight which never should have taken place. For me, Pacquiao won all three Bradley fight convincingly.
Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s) at the time, took the fight 118-110 on my card after a scintillating display. He was clearly robbed by a terrible decision which was acknowledged by the vast majority of the boxing world’s media in the wake of the fight.
Defeat 5 – Juan Manuel Marquez
For my money, the loss to Bradley has an exacting effect of the Marquez fight. Six months on in December 2012, Pacquiao’s mindset going into the fight wasn’t right. This was possibly down to the fact he was disappointed in the judging for Bradley.
The potentially led to Pacquiao getting reckless going for a Marquez KO and meant he got caught with an almighty punch heard around the world.
Following some bad decisions of his own against Pacquiao, the sixth round victory was poetic justice for Marquez, who has since negated on giving Pacquiao the chance to avenge.
Defeat 6 – Floyd Mayweather
There will always be a sadness and looking back on this super-fight, knowing not only that the public were handed the contest years too late, but that Pacquiao stated he was injured during the bout.
We will never know what could have happened if they’d have met in 2010, although Floyd did what Floyd does and eased to a one-sided triumph in 2015.
‘MayPac’ remains the highest grossing fight of all time.
Defeat 7 – Jeff Horn
The summer 2017 clash in Australian could be the worst of the lot. In a similar manner to Bradley, Pacquiao dominated the fight only to be pickpocketed by the judges again.
It’s conceivable Pacquiao should only have five losses on his record. But there will always be arguments to the contrary stating Pacquiao’s career has evened itself out.
Phil Jay is Editor of World Boxing News. Follow on Twitter @PhilDJay
