Pacquiao’s legacy goes hand in hand with Mexico

Almost a third of Manny Pacquiao’s opponents were Hispanic, nine of them born in Mexico, and he was fortunate in his rise to the top of world boxing against them, achieving an effectiveness of over 80 percent.

Pacquiao, recently retired, must undoubtedly be one of the most notable victims of Mexican boxing and one of the non-American fighters with the best record against fighters from this continent, since in 23 fights, he managed to get 18 wins, 11 of them by knockout, in exchange for two draws and three defeats.

“It was not my intention to fight another Mexican, but that’s how things happen,” said Tagalog, who eventually became a favorite of the Hispanic fans despite being called the ‘Mexican killer’ at some point.

It is obvious that the most important victory against Hispanic fighters was against Oscar de la Hoya, because it was the one that allowed ‘Pacman’ to rise to the level of a world figure transcending the borders of boxing, but there were other very important ones.

When talking about Pacquiao’s career in the future, it will be necessary to talk about the series he held against Mexican Marco Barrera — whom he defeated twice –, Juan Manuel Marquez — with whom he lost once, won twice and drew another — and Erik Morales — whom he won twice but lost once –. He fought them nine times, winning six, losing two and drawing one.

Before them, Manny’s history against Americans began in 1999, first knocking out Mexican Gabriel Mira in the Philippines. In 2001, already in his second fight in the United States, Pacquiao drew with Dominican Agapito Sanchez, but a year later he knocked out Colombian Jorge Eliecer Julio in two. In 2003 he knocked out Mexican Emanuel Lucero in three episodes.

It was then that he began his brilliant period. He knocked out Barrera in 2003, then gave Marquez a scare before drawing in 2004 and in 2005 he lost to Morales, but then started a pretty solid streak that allowed him to rise to the top.

In 2005 he knocked out Hector Velazquez, in 2006 he managed to knock out Morales twice and beat Oscar Larios. In 2007 he knocked out Jorge Solis and beat Barrera again, this time on points, and in 2008 he beat Marquez for the first time. By the way, all of them Mexican.

The string of wins continued, but now against Mexican-American David Diaz and none other than Oscar de la Hoya, the ‘Golden Boy’, in 2008. His record against Hispanics had improved to 13 wins, one loss and two draws.

In 2009 he impressively knocked out Miguel Cotto in welterweight and a year later he beat Antonio Margarito in super welterweight. As he had unfinished business, he faced Marquez again and in a controversial decision defeated him again in 2011, but in 2012 ‘El Dinamita’ cashed in and knocked him out in six rounds in their fourth clash.

His last fight against a Hispanic fighter was against Yordenis Ugas in 2021, to leave his record at 17 wins, three losses and two draws, which made him one of the most notable, if not the greatest, victimizers of Spanish-speaking fighters, and especially Mexicans in the history of boxing.