Why Manny Pacquiao is better than Floyd Mayweather

When Manny Pacquiao was poised to fight Adrien ’The Problem" Broner, I laid out the case for PacMan being the greatest fighter of all time. My position in the MaxBoxing article was solid, but the narrative was driven by the PacMan vs Broner storyline.

The ghost of Floyd "Money" Mayweather has haunted me ever since. The Ghost insists that Floyd is the better fighter.

So I’m going to explain to everyone who believes in ghosts why PacMan is better than Floyd.

Manny Pacquiao is the best fighter in history, period. It’s not even close. Just check his resume, as he zooms past no-man’s land in the boxing game: age 40. And this list of opponents runs from the most recent on down. Only the Mayweather and 4th Marquez fight loss were clear-cut.

As we know, PacMan punked Broner. Hard. The lad had ten years on the legend; but it did him no good. Broner was outworked, outhustled, outgunned, and out-everythinged. And Broner is a three-weight division world champ who knocked Shawn Porter on his butt.

And we all know the foolish Keith "One Loss" Thurman who threatened to crucify Pacman in their title tiff got his azz waxed by Manny. Thurman claimed he’d never been scared to see his "0" go. Well, that’s good for him, because that "0" went like hell. It left him like money leaving a sailor’s pocket during shore leave. But most impressive for PacMan were the gnarly lumps, knots, and welts Manny carved into Thurman’s nugget. That was a classic mugging.

Add those two braggart’s scalps to Manny’s belt. Broner was an ex-champ, and Thurman was an undefeated champ when they crossed paths with PacMan. Both promised Pac an ugly azz-whupping; but instead, each took home a good old-fashioned thrashing.

Manny’s list of challengers, in order:

Lucas Matthysse-champ, Jeff Horn-champ, Jesse Vargas-champ, Timothy Bradley-champ, Floyd Mayweather- champ, Chris Algieri-champ, Brandon Rios-champ, Juan Manuel Marquez-champ Shane Mosely-champ, Antonio Margarito-champ, Joshua Clottey-champ, Miguel Cotto-champ, Ricky Hatton-champ, Oscar De La Hoya-champ, David Diaz,-champ, Marco Antonio Barerra-champ-, 3-time world title challenger Jorge Solis, Erik Morales-champ, Oscar Larios-champ, Two-time world title challenger Hector Velasquez 42-10-2 (fought Pac with nothing at stake). Hector later fought for a world title---then sprinkle in the fact that in his four previous fights Pac took on Morales, Marquez, and Barerra. His only breather between those three murderers was a non-title fight with Narongrit Pirang 44-7-1 (who also later fought for a world title) And just so there was no doubt about who was who---Pac fought Marquez four times, and took on Bradley, Morales, and Barrera three times each, and holds the edge in wins over each of them in every series.

Folks, Juan Manuel Marquez, Shane Mosely, Miguel Cotto, Marco Antonio Barrera, Oscar De La Hoya, Erik Morales, Antonio Margarito. Keith Thurman, and even Ricky Hatton were all killers. Stone cold bad-azzes. Period. Pac basically bitch-slapped the lot of ’em.

And Pac is just a lil fella. Everyone of them had the edge in size. But talent is the name of our game, and that boy got talent!

NOBODY in history has ever dared a 16-year, twenty-nine fight suicide mission schedule even remotely resembling that. The facts are facts, and those facts go back-to-back like two flats on a Cadillac!

But Father Time will be The Equalizer one day. Fighters are famous for "getting old overnight". It happened to Hamed vs Barrera. Happened to Oscar vs Pac. Cotto tasted it vs Saddam Ali. Tyson rusted overnight in Japan vs Buster Douglas and Tito turned to stone vs Winky Wright. Sugar Ray Leonard turned 100 years-old vs Macho Camacho. GGG got a grey beard over the course of the last few months. Frankie Randall also thumped Julio The Great upside the head with a calendar. Michael Spinks put the "Spinks Jinx" on an unbeaten Larry Holmes. Vitaly busted Lennox across the chops with a grandfather’s clock as well. The list goes on and on.

But today, Manny reigns supreme.

Uh. OK. The ghost of Floyd wants his side of the story told.

Floyd was beating up men whilst still a teenager. He was winning national golden glove tournaments fighting against men that had families. He won three GG titles; at 103, 114, and 125 lbs. He won that very first one at the tender age of 16. He was an Olympian in 1996, and got robbed. USA Olympic Judge Bill Waeckerle resigned in protest of the robbery.

As a pro Mayweather was superb. It’s difficult, if not impossible to argue against Floyd.

The. Man. Never. Lost. A. Fight.

The. Man. Beat. Pacquiao. Fair. And. Square.

Mayweather champion scalps: Berto. PacMan. Maidana; twice. Canelo. Guerrero, Cotto. Ortiz. Mosely. Marquez, Hatton, De La Hoya. Baldomir. Judah. Sharmba Mitchell. Gatti. Luis Castillo, twice. Jesus Chavez. Carlos Hernandez. Corrales. Genaro Hernandez.

Major scalps: Canelo. Floyd beat him easily, yet Canelo went on to dominated divisions 20 pounds north of welterweight. (and has his sights set on a 175 lb. title) That tells us that Canelo is a certified Bad-Azz, which elevates Floyd’s prowess to the highest levels in history. Why? Because Floyd is a natural lightweight and he schooled Canelo as a father does his child.

De La Hoya. Oscar was one bad dude. And he was big, fast, and tall. But Floyd tamed him cleanly.

Cotto. Miguel was a tough hombre with a killer left hook. He was a big fella compared to Floyd, but Mayweather handled him as well.

PacMan. Floyd fought Pac and won cleanly. Was never hurt.

Corrales. Floyd dismantled Diego. This was the Floyd whose offense was phenomenal and brutal should he choose to unleash it. He almost killed Gatti, and Arturo thrived on punishment; though Floyd didn’t stick around for nary a receipt.

Floyd had a style to beat whoever he faced. He could punch. He could jab. Nobody could outbox Floyd. Nobody.

To me, perhaps Floyd’s most important accomplishment that gives credence to his claim to be better than PacMan is that Floyd lost a miniscule amount of rounds over his entire career. It is stunning to consider that Floyd fought 400 rounds (397) and may have lost as few as 20 rounds over his entire career! Who can else in boxing history can say that?! So Floyd would basically win 20 rounds, and lose one. His doing that whilst fighting 20 fighters with a world championship pedigree is mind-numbing.

But at the end of the day, PacMan winning eight weight division titles is ungodly. He lost to Floyd, but they were both past their primes, so I don’t give that much weight. I also believe Floyd did not want that smoke when their fires burned brightest.

Also, Floyd struggled with Oscar whilst PacMan murdered De La Hoya. The way Pac battered and KO’d Cotto was also impressive considering Miguel gave Floyd a tough fight. I believe Floyd ducked Margarito. But I also believe that was before Floyd knew he could dominate welterweights, because I’m certain Floyd would have beaten Margarito handily.

Sure, Floyd spanked Marquez who gave PacMan fits and famously KO’d Manny. But Marquez was a much smaller fighter than Floyd. Which brings me to this: PacMan is a much smaller fighter than Floyd, but did far greater damage to great fighters along his career path.

So, all in all, it’s clear to me PacMan has the superior resume. Add that to the fact Pac just whipped Keith Thurman whilst Floyd has remained dormant and the picture comes into focus.

Manny is the better fighter over Floyd.

Blake Chavez answers all his emails: blakesocrateschavez@gmail.com