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MANNY Pacquiao will not be officially a lightweight
(135 pounds) until June 28 when he takes on defending World Boxing
Council (WBC) champion David Diaz, but this early it is safe to say
that PacMan has set the division on fire.
Just about every champion in the
division wants a piece of Pacquiao, knowing very well that a fight
with the Filipino slugger will bring them untold riches.
WBA-IBF champion Nate Campbell,
who once worked as a grocery bagger, is already bragging that PacMan
will not last 12 rounds with him. Joel Casamayor, who sold the
bicycle he received from the Cuban government (for his Olympic gold
medal feat) to buy a pig and feed his family, boldly challenged
Pacquiao after his knockout victory over Australian slugger Michael
Katsidis on March 22 for The Ring magazine’s version of the crown.
More than lighting up the
lightweight class, Pacquiao figures to add a whole new chapter in
the illustrious history of the division.
From a historical standpoint, the
lightweight division is one of the eight original weight classes in
pro boxing (the others being the flyweight, bantamweight,
featherweight, welterweight, middleweight, light heavyweight and
heavyweight divisions). There was no recognized champion in the
division until 1868 when Abe Hicken defeated Pete McGuire in
Perrysville, Missouri. They fought at 130 pounds (the original
weight limit of the division before it was raised to 133 and
eventually 135) and called themselves “lightweights.” Hicken
claimed the crown, no one disputed, and he eventually retired.
From 1872 to 1885, there was no
generally recognized titlist in the weight class. On October 29,
1886, Jack McAuliffe claimed the vacant world lightweight crown with
a 21st round knockout of Billy Frazier in Boston. McAuliffe brought
legitimacy to the division by whipping all challengers in the next
nine years before retiring in 1897.
Panamian Roberto Duran and
American Joe Gans are considered by historians as the greatest
lightweight champions of all time.
Duran held the lightweight tiara
for six years (1972 to 1978) and made a division-record 12
consecutive defenses before relinquishing. He went as far as winning
the WBC middleweight title (160 pounds) in 1989 over Iran Barkley.
Gans, a black fighter, enjoyed
two reigns as lightweight champion (1902 to 1904; 1906 to 1908) and
made a combined 14 successful defenses. Dubbed the “Old Master,”
Gans vacated the throne in 1904 because of difficulty in making the
weight but returned two years later to reclaim it with a
disqualification win over Battling Nelson.
For the record, no Filipino has
succeeded in winning a generally-recognized (WBC, WBA, IBF) version
of the lightweight title. On October 28, 1961, American Joe “Old
Bones” Brown traveled to Quezon City and successfully defended the
world title by outpointing Bert Somodio.
Former junior lightweight king
Gabriel “Flash” Elorde earned two cracks at the lightweight
title held by Carlos Ortiz (1964 and 1966) and was stopped in 14
rounds on both occasions.
In May 1982, Fil-Hawaiian Andy
Ganigan managed to floor WBC champion Alexis Arguello in the first
round but ended up getting hammered in five rounds. In November
1995, Dindo Canoy dropped a lopsided decision over Russian Orzubek
Nazarov in Japan in a bid for the WBA crown.
Pacquiao will be looking to score
one for the Filipino pugs when he takes on Diaz. A win over the
defending WBC champion will give PacMan a fourth world boxing title
in as many weight classifications. Pacquiao has held titles in the
flyweight (112 pounds), junior featherweight (122 pounds) and junior
lightweight classes (130 pounds).
Pacquiao would be gunning for a
fifth crown by now if only his November 2003 showdown with Marco
Antonio Barrera was for the regular featherweight title. A May 2004
showdown with Juan Manuel Marquez for the WBA-IBF featherweight
crown ended in a stalemate.
For his upcoming showdown with
Diaz, there appears to be no stopping PacMan from adding another
jewel to his already loaded crown.
For comments, the writer can
be reached at atty_eduardo@ yahoo.com.
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