Life after Pacquiao

Mississippi Fight Sports Examiner | Brad Cooney

The day will come in the not so far future when Manny Pacquiao will hang up the gloves for good. What will the boxing world be like void of such a powerful force? Will the Pacmaniacs suffer from Pacman withdrawals? The sport will live on, but it will surely miss the pound for pound king.

Manny Pacquiao in this writers opinion has carried the sport of boxing and has injected international excitement back into the sport, something it desperately needed. Manny began to make his mark in boxing when he systematically eradicated one Mexican legend after another. Morales, Barrera, Marquez, De La Hoya, Diaz, Larios, the list goes on. Then just to stack onto an already Hall of Fame resume, let's add Miguel Cotto, and Ricky Hatton to his list of victims.

I spoke with the president of USA boxing's Mid South Association Stan Nichols, who's also the Chief of Officials for the state of Mississippi. Nichols, a long time boxing guy who once sparred the great Roberto Duran talked about his first experience watching Manny Pacquiao, "The first time I saw Manny Pacquiao is when he took on Marco Antonio Barrera the first time. I never saw him before that, and I remember watching that fight and asking myself, 'who in the heck is this little guy?'

Americans who never even heard of Pacquiao prior to his television debut had their eyes opened up quickly. Nichols went on to say, "I remember looking at Pacquiao and I noticed how awkward he was, and how much harder he hit than the average guy at that weight. When he sat Barrera down onto the floor, I knew right then that this guy was here to stay."

Since then Pacquiao has risen to an iconic level of fame. He has gained fans across the world, and not just Filipino fans. Pacquiao's fan base even reaches into Mexico, a country that watched him wipe out all of their recent boxing legends. It's a sign of respect. Even those who are not Pacquiao fans have to respect what he has done in the ring, and outside of the ring.

When Manny does finally hang them up, the sport will sorely miss him. It's not every day when a guy like Manny Pacquiao arrives on the scene. So while he's still doing his thing in the ring, lets all sit back and enjoy the rest of the show.

Source: Examiner.com