Manny Pacquiao: Why Pac-Man Is Not an All-Time Great Boxer

Manny Pacquiao may be the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world at the moment, but the Filipino superstar is hardly in the pantheon of all time great boxers, at least not yet. 

This isn't a knock on Pacman's skills; the 32-year-old pugilist has a truly rare and unique combination of speed and power, the kind of quickness and punch that has allowed him to move up eight weight classes over the course of his career. 

That makes Manny a unique fighter, to be sure, but one of the all time greatest? At this point, he's simply not there. 

Pacman has yet to have one of those fights, the kind of epic clashes that make fighters into legends, into pantheon fighters. He has yet to meet a single fighter who could match his skill (with the possible exception of Juan Manuel Marquez, who drew with him back in 2004), and deliver the kind of epic, once in a lifetime clash (or series of clashes) that will elevate him to the pugulistic pantheon. 

But Sam, you say, doesn't that just mean Pacman has dominated every fighter he's faced? In a way, yes. 

Pacman has been on an truly epic run, routing virtually every foe he's faced since Erik Morales in 2005. But the biggest reason for that is quite simple: few elite fighters have faced a more mediocre set of challengers and contenders during their prime than Pacman has. 

It's not that the fighters he's faced aren't solid; men like Oscar de la Hoya, Marquez, Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton and Shane Mosley were all elite fighter in their primes. 

The problem is, with the exception of Marquez, none of those fighters were in their primes when they fought Pacman. De la Hoya was 36, Margarito was 31 (but his slow brawler style was a lousy fit for Pacman's quick, punishing style anyway), Hatton was 30 (in his last professional fight), Cotto was 29 (but he was a similar fit to Margarito) and Mosley was a staggering 40 when he fought Pacman. 

In other words, in one of the weakest eras of talent boxing has ever seen, Pacman still managed to fight a grand total of zero elite fighters in his career, during their primes. 

When Ali fought Frazier the first time, both fighters were squarely in their primes, and all three of their fights took place before either fighter was past his prime. When Foreman fought Ali, the same was true. If Pacman wants to reach the pantheon of elite fighters in history, he needs to fight an elite fighter or two before his prime ends. 

There's an easy fix, though. There just so happens to be another elite fighter in this generation, who goes by the name of Floyd "Money" Mayweather. Fighting Money next (and possibly pitting the two fighters against one another in a series of fights) would be enough to push Manny out of the "great" category, and into the "greatest" category. 

Will that fight happen?

That depends more on Mayweather than Pacman (and right now, it doesn't look good), but if it doesn't, Pacman's legacy (and by extension, that of Mayweather) won't be enough to get him into that rarefied air. He just lacks the necessary paper profile, at least as of yet.