Manny Pacquiao was on the receiving end on the punch heard ‘round the world, when he lunged in and was caught by the big right hand of Juan Manuel Marquez which shut the lights on Pacquiao, sending him to the canvas last December. Whenever someone in the sport of boxing gets knocked out unconsciously, they are almost never the same. Recent examples to consider would be Paul Williams who was sent to his bed by Sergio Martinez and Roy Jones Jr. being sent furiously to the canvas by Antonio Tarver. Neither guy seemed the same in their very next fight and for the rest of their career was a consider notch below the elite.
The question now is settled directly on Manny Pacquiao. How will this affect him? Will he be the same offensive force that he was in the past or will he be more careful in his onslaught? Pacquiao feels there is middle ground between the two.
“The aggressive Pacquiao that the fans want is who I will be, throwing more punches, it’s going to be a good fight with Brandon Rios,” Pacquiao told ThaBoxingVoice.com.
Maybe Rios is tailored made for Pacquiao or maybe Rios is the wrong guy to get in the ring after being viciously knocked out. Rios all action come forward style can be both, depending on how the knockout affected the psyche of Pacquiao and to a point, Pacquiao’s ability to take a punch. Once again, Pacquiao will rely on careful aggression.
“Before that fight people are asking questions about my aggressiveness and they think it’s gone. I can still give that aggressiveness, I got that, but I won’t be carless aggressive like in the Marquez fight. I got knocked out but I will be aggressive and not careless.”
The fight between Pacquiao and Rios will have testing conducted by VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency). Before the Marquez knockout, Pacquiao just relied on the testing of the local commission, so it was curious to know why this route now and not in the past, especially since it was a major sticking point to a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr., not happening.
“It’s really important right now, not all the athletes, but some are using any kind of enhancement in fights but not only in boxing but different sport,” stated Pacquiao. It was important to note that he was mum on it being the knockout by Marquez or him suspecting that Marquez was using banned substances as to why this fight went the route of using VADA.
Should Pacquiao defeat Rios and continue fighting, the big fights are still there for him against Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez, the two fighters who defeated him last year. In regards to who he feels will come out victorious and if he would want the winner, Pacquiao stated, “It’s a good fight and let’s see what happens.”
Throughout the many media appearances, Pacquiao was always asked a fight with Floyd Mayweather and mentioned on ESPN’s First Take that he would still want to fight Mayweather. We posed the questions as to why he said that because most people feel that a fight between the two won’t happen ever.
Pacquiao responded by saying, “I think that question is for Mayweather because has trying to blame me for drug testing. I agreed to drug testing, and then he changed the reason. He says more money, and then I say yes to that. Where is he?”
