PACMAN IN TEXAS
ON November 13, 2010, Manny Pacquiao added another page to his boxing legacy when he fought Antonio Margarito at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, for the vacant World Boxing Council 154-pound title.
Outside the ring, fully clothed, Manny Pacquiao looks almost delicate and vulnerable. The first reaction many people have on meeting him is surprise that he’s so small. His voice is soft. There’s a gentle quality about him.
But in the ring, Pacquiao was a destroyer. He won his first world title in 1998 at 112 pounds and had compiled a 51-3-2 record with 38 knockouts by the time he fought Margarito. At age 31, he’d earned belts against credible competition in seven weight divisions. More significantly, three times during the preceding 23 months, Pacquiao had moved up in weight and destroyed bigger men.
“It’s not just about beating opponents,” former featherweight champion Barry McGuigan observed. “It’s the way that you beat them. Pacquiao went through Oscar de la Hoya like a sparring partner. The way he knocked out Ricky Hatton was staggering. He just pole-axed him. Then he systematically took apart Miguel Cotto in a way no one could have predicted.”
Pacquiao’s journey from abject poverty to wealth and fame almost beyond imagination had made him an icon in his native Philippines. And his celebrity status exploded after his stoppage of De La Hoya.
“The broad outlines of his legend,” declared, “have made him a projection of the migrant dreams of the many Filipinos who leave home and country for work. Some spend decades abroad for the sake of the ones they love. Everyone in the Philippines knows a person who has made the sacrifice or is making
