10. Manny Pacquiao TKO 4 Arnel Barotillo – 2000
Pacquiao was still just climbing the professional ladder at this point. ‘The Pacman’ was defending his WBC International super bantamweight title.
He was quickly garnering a reputation for his all action style of fighting and he was beginning to amass what would become a massive following.
Manny was lightning quick at this weight, he demonstrated that speed by scoring repeatedly with hard punches. Baratillo was game in this fight but the speed of his Filipino adversary was too much and he struggled to see the shots coming.
Baratillo kept coming and made every attempt to not succumb to is opponent’s will. But it just wasn’t to be. The fight’s end came when Baratillo attempted to cut Manny off in the corner of he ring.
He tried to time Manny with a big left hook, Manny anticipated it and countered with his own left hook which obliterated Baratillo and left him disorientated and unable to continue after a delayed reaction.
The knockout was eerily similar to Mike Tyson’s kayo of Trevor Berbick given the dynamite left hook and the time it took to react to the knockout blow.
9. Manny Pacquiao TKO 3 Emmanuel Lucero – 2003
https://youtu.be/0FRubffRl8o?t=13m34s
Fast forward three years, Manny had broken through and become exposed to the American audience. This was yet another demonstration of ‘The Pacman’ at the beak of his powers at the super bantamweight limit.
Pacquiao went into the fight, Manny was looking to make the fourth defence of the IBF world title strap he had won from Lehlo Ledwaba.
Pacquiao had a chance to demonstrate his phenomenal one-punch knockout power in this fight.
The end coming when Pacquiao’s trademark lightning fast left hand landed on the button of Lucero’s chin.
Lucero instantly lost all control over his legs and it was evident he was out on his feet.
The force of the blow was so hard that Lucero instantly turned his back to his opponent and tried to steady himself by balancing himself with the top strand of rope. Lucero was in pain and had to take a knee though.
Seeing the pain, Lucero was in; referee Jose Cobian saw fit to call an end to the proceedings.
8. Manny Pacquiao KO 3 Erik Morales (3rd meeting) – 2006
There was bad blood between these two, they were both tied in their series of bouts with one win apiece and this was the tiebreaker between two of the all-time greats.
Pacquiao and Morales had endured quite a saga. Morales dismantled Manny and gave him a boxing lesson in their first fight.
Manny responded by inflicting the first stoppage of Erik Morales 52-fight professional career. Morales was a proud Mexican warrior and wanted revenge.
Manny was at his blinding peak at this stage, everything he threw was so hard to see coming and more specifically every blow he threw had bad intentions written all over it.
Morales bravely tried to give as good as he got in this fight, but it was clear he was taking chances in opening up with a seemingly much faster version of Pacquiao then the one he had previously faced.
Morales was always a fighter who was fearless, courageous and always willing to have a tear-up. Its such a powerful, symbolic statement to such a fighter seated on the seat of his pants, still coherent decide he doesn’t want anymore of the typhoon opposite him.
That is what happened here, Morales knew he was going to be violently pummeled again if he decided to resist and not succumb to Manny’s will.
7. Manny Pacquiao TKO 11 Miguel Cotto – 2009
https://youtu.be/XLEfilZP0Zg?t=3s
Pacquiao had broken through, he had made his arrival in one of boxing’s glamour divisions in the welterweight 147 lbs division.
Pacquiao was coming off arguably the two most resounding victories of his career against Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton.
Next up on the chopping block, was the Puerto Rican multi-weight champion, Miguel Cotto. Cotto was an absolute pitbull of a fighter; he was tough, dogged, had skills and good ring generalship.
The match-up was billed as ‘Firepower’. Manny was the fighter who showcased his punching power however, he showed his effectiveness and punch versatility by decking Cotto in the third round with a right hook and then again in the following round with a left uppercut.
The beating from that point was relentless, the speed advantages in favour of ‘The Pacman’ was simply too much for the Puerto Rican fighter.
He was slashed to pieces by Manny’s dazzling handspeed. The beating was so bad that Cotto’s wife walked out of the arena in the ninth round.
Cotto admirably continued on but the referee Kenny Bayless with his wealth of experience in countless world title fights, saw fit to call off the fight in the 11th round.
6. Manny Pacquiao TKO 4 Fahsan 3K Battery – 2004
This fight was the penultimate time Manny Pacquiao fought in his homeland of The Philippines. Battery had built up quite a fearsome reputation for his punching power. Battery had dispatched over 20 Filipino fighters during his career and many thought Manny was next up on the hitlist.
However, Manny let it be known he had a different vision for this fight. he relentlessly came at Battery
It was readily apparent that Pacquiao was the faster, stronger and more possessed superior pugilistic abilities and demonstrated that by dropping Battery with hard knockdowns in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounds.
Manny increasingly found his mark with his left uppercut in the fourth and decided it was time to move in for the kill. Once again demonstrated his one punch knockout power by almost ripping off his opponent’s head with a dynamite uppercut in the fourth
5. Manny Pacquiao TKO 11 Marco Antonio Barrera (1st meeting) – 2003
Barrera famously shared in the lead up to this fight, that Pacquiao reminded him of himself when he was coming through the ranks.
Barrera possessed phenomenal intelligence and counter punching skills inside that squared circle, he knew his trade. He knew what was in front of him and furthermore he knew that this ‘kid’ was going to push him to his limits.
Barrera like Morales was a proud Mexican warrior and wasn’t going to come and lie down easily.
The fight started with Barrera letting Pacquiao know he operated at a different level to anything he had seen before. Manny was put on the canvas in the fight’s opening stanza.
This would not be a sign of things to come however. Pacquiao responded by felling his Mexican counterpart in the third round and then proceeded to dish out a beat down with his signature all-action style of fighting.
Pacquiao relentlessly came at Barrera and its clear the pace of the bout took its toll on the Mexican great’s legs.
Barrera was a sitting target as the fight headed down the stretch in the 11th and Pacquiao was annihilating him with a fusillade of blows.
Barrera’s trainer, Ruby Perez climbed the ring steps and entered the ring in the 11th. Perez had seen enough and decided to pull his fighter out and have the referee mercifully call off the carnage.
4. Manny Pacquiao TKO 10 Erik Morales (2nd meeting) – 2006
The rematch! Manny Pacquiao suffered his first defeat since achieving exposure in the USA in his first fight with Erik Morales.
Morales was dangerous and rangy. He deployed a sharp jab in their first fight and it seemed to fluster Pacquiao before hurting him on the inside as the fight wore on.
Manny had to even the score and he did. It was the biggest beating of Morales career that was going to cause him to surrender for the first time in his professional career.
Manny was landing shots from all angles and was very effective with his aggression unlike in the first fight where he was forced onto the back foot for the large majority of the rounds.
The end of the fight came after Morales had barely gotten up in time from the first knockdown of the round. He was knocked back down with a flurry of punches and referee Kenny Bayless called a halt to the action.
Morales face was a mess of welts and he had lumps on his forehead and head after taking the beating of his career. It was the third loss in the last four fights for the Mexican who had held titles in three different weight classes.
3. Manny Pacquiao RTD 8 Oscar De La Hoya – 2008
https://youtu.be/nWw1Q1CFUQw?t=4s
This fight was looked at Manny’s coming out party. ‘The Golden Boy’ Oscar De La Hoya was the biggest name in combat sports and many were alarmed at Bob Arum’s insistence at making this match-up.
Many felt going into this fight that it was totally inconceivable that a man of Manny’s natural size could be competitive with De La Hoya.
The match up was built as ‘The Dream Fight’. Manny was at his phenomenal best in this fight, taking De La Hoya apart with a relentless barrage of punches. This fight has been fondly remembered with the title ‘Death by 1000 left hands’.
This was the beginning of the path that Manny took to become a PPV phenomenon.
The size differential was so vast, it looked like they didn’t belong in the same ring when the fight began.
However as the fight waned on, it became increasingly evident that Oscar had no answer for Manny’s combinations and he could do nothing to stop them from landing at will.
HBO’s Jim Lampley famously said during this fight that “Pacquiao was gradually reconfiguring Oscar De La Hoya’s beautiful face.” Indeed!
Oscar agreed with his corner’s opinion of stopping the fight following the eighth round.
He graciously called time on his hall-of-fame career after being on the end of this brutal demolition.
2. Manny Pacquiao TKO 6 Lehlo Ledwaba – 2001
This was Pacquiao’s first exposure to an American audience. He had to seize this opportunity and show the country what a special fighter he was and he did.
Jim Lampley could barely pronounce Pacquiao’s name at the start of this pivotal fight, but by the end of the fight he was raving about the name, furthermore he wasn’t about to forget how to pronounce the name anymore.
Following the bout, Lampley said that he’d never seen a fighter in the smaller weight class exhibit the punching power that Pacquiao displayed that night.
Larry Merchant recalled watching that fight and shared he was amazed by how much power and the technique on the left hand.
Pacquiao was a late substitute for his debut on American television and took this fight on two weeks notice.
Pacquiao’s frenetic style of fighting proved too much for his adversary and his left hand found its mark repeatedly. Ledwaba eventually called it quits in the sixth round.
With this victory, Pacquiao became a world champion for the first time. This was ‘The Pacman’s’ first of eight different weight world titles.
1. Manny Pacquiao KO 2 Ricky Hatton – 2009
https://youtu.be/yEPtojKdQuU?t=7s
Arguably the most emphatic knockout of the current era of boxing. This was a match-up between two dangerous, concussive punchers and it was never going to go on for long when you have two guys that turn off the lights with a single blow.
Hatton went down after taking a right hook with a minute to go in the first round. Hatton rose at the count of eight.
The second knock down by Pacquiao, with 9 seconds remaining in the first round, occurred after he breached Hatton’s defence with a quick combination followed by a signature left hand.
In the second round, Pacquiao landed two looping rights and a savage left-right-left combination. Hatton tried to buy precious seconds by locking up Pacquiao’s head midway through the round, but a heavy left hook finally ended the contest by knocking Hatton out cold 2:59 into round two.
With this victory, Pacquiao claimed the Lineal and RING world jr welterweight titles from Ricky ‘Hitman’ Hatton.
With this devastating kayo many felt this would be the perfect time for Manny Pacquiao to finally get a shot at the undisputed number one attraction in the sport of boxing, Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather. However, he would have to wait a painful six year period to finally get that fight.
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