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A Wide-Ranging Discussion with Manny Pacquiao Biographer Gary Andrew Poole
Manny Pacquiao began his ring career in relative obscurity fighting at 106 pounds as a flyweight, but became a global sensation and arguably one of the greatest fighters of all time.
At the apex of his career and power, Los Angeles-based journalist and author Gary Andrew Poole followed Pacquiao around seemingly everywhere. The result was Poole’s critically acclaimed 2010 book titled, “Pac Man: Behind The Scenes With Manny Pacquiao – The Greatest Pound-For-Pound Fighter In The World.”
Exhausting no doubt, but what was it like shadowing the Filipino legend?
“In reporting my book, I was covering his fights but also his life outside the ring. I followed him around in the Philippines as he ran for political office. It really felt like I was covering someone who transcended his profession,” Poole said. “Think Elvis [Presley] or [Muhammad] Ali. He would show up in the middle of a jungle and thousands upon thousands of people would show up to see him.”
Poole said it was incredible watching Pacquiao interact with his fellow countrymen.
“The adoration was crazy. Many of these people were incredibly poor,” he said. “He was always incredibly generous to them, always making sure he was giving them money or food.”
Poole was positioned ringside for countless Pacquiao bouts and ranks him among the five best all-time at the welterweight division.
One caveat for Poole, who penned a 2008 book on Red Grange titled, “The Galloping Ghost: Red Grange – An American Football Legend,” is that he, of course, didn’t see every great welterweight in the ring.
“Since I didnât see them fight, itâs difficult for me to rate Manny against fighters from earlier in the last century,” he admitted. “But I also think that in boxing (opposed to other sports), the fighters of yesteryear are more equivalent to modern fighters.”
Poole, who received his bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University and his master’s from the School of Journalism at Columbia University, went on: “So I canât rule out [Sugar Ray] Robinson or [Henry] Armstrong just because they fought so long ago. Manny’s ranked No. 5 and the reason is because I think his fights in so many weight classes help him to stand out,” he said. “Given that Floyd [Mayweather Jr.] beat Manny, and finished his career undefeated, I canât rank Manny above Floyd, who I have at No. 4 (I have covered a lot of Mayweatherâs fights, too.)â Poole has Ray Leonard No. 3, while Robinson is No. 1 and Armstrong No. 2.
Poole went on and explained why it’s easier to compare boxers over the decades versus other sports like football, baseball or basketball.
“In most sports, athletes have become more skilled and more athletic because of diet, weightlifting and the rest,” he pointed out. “Not sure that is necessarily the case in boxing. In fact, the opposite might be true. Pre-1980s, fighters were in the gym and fighting constantly. I think the trainers were overall better, too. So I think they might have had more experience and skill.”
The clash everyone wanted to see was Pacquiao versus Mayweather in their respective primes.
It didn’t happen for a variety of reasons, When the two did step into the ring on May 2, 2015 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, both were past their prime. The result was a lackluster unanimous decision victory for Mayweather.
“It really sucked that the fight didnât happen earlier. The world waited and then the fight wasnât great because the fighters were so much older,” Poole offered. “The delay really took a toll on Manny. Mannyâs style was relentless. He took some punishment from [Juan Manuel] Marquez and [Antonio] Margarito. Given who he fought and his never-get-hit style, Floyd was much fresher when the fight actually happened. If they would have fought earlier, we could have seen a trilogy. It would have been epic.”
The best fighting the best has been an issue for boxing and it continues to be a thorny problem.
“I love boxing. Itâs the best live sporting event on the planet. The athletes are incredible. Every few years a writer will arrive on the scene and proclaim that boxing is dead. Itâs never going to die,” Poole suggested. “While it gets overlooked in the mainstream, itâs incredibly popular in many communities around the world. But it should be a much more popular sport. Itâs hardly scratching the surface of what it should be.”
Poole gets specific and points to Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr., two extraordinarily gifted and undefeated welterweights, a match that everyone in the boxing community is drooling over.
“Boxing couldnât get Manny and Floyd in the ring during their prime. The same thing is happening now with Crawford and Spence,” he said. “Unfortunately, boxing gets in its own way.”
“I realize that there are a lot of people who love the insider-ish aspect of boxing. The intrigue among promoters and fighters is interesting for insiders but itâs way too damn complex for most people to follow,” Poole said. “I think all of the confusion creates inertia; no one can follow the storylines. In American pro sports, you have a season, playoffs and a championship. In professional soccer, you have league play, domestic cups, a regional cup and international competitions. The UFC has one belt holder in each division. Itâs all very logical for the media. You need that sort of logic for good story-telling. In boxing, itâs virtually impossible to set up a match with the two best fighters. Itâs ridiculous. Average people canât understand it. Boxing should wake up and do a better job of giving the paying customer what it wants.â
“I donât have the answers except that people would like to see the best fighting the best for titles. They want to understand the sport, and get to know the fighters and the trainers,” Poole said. “Back in 2009 to 2011, Showtime organized the Super Six World Boxing Classic, a super middleweight tournament. Andre Ward won the contest, unified the World Boxing Association (super title), World Boxing Council and The Ring super middleweight titles. Showtime did a great job of taking you into the training camps and building the stories. I really think that sort of buildup is the model boxing should follow for every weight class.”
Poole has more thoughts on how to make boxing even more appealing.
“Eliminate sanctioning bodies. Unionize the fighters. Create a structure in which the best fight the best,” he said. “Take away the notion that if you lose one fight, youâre not a good fighter because that means there is no incentive to have well-matched fights.”
Pacquiao fought professionally from 1995 through 2021, carving out a 62-8-2 record with 39 knockouts while becoming the only eight weight division world champion. He did take his share of hits in the squared circle but still has his wits about him.
Does Poole think boxers contemplate the punishment they absorb across a career?
“Some boxers think about it; some donât. Boxing is a sport of poverty. Most fighters come from nothing. Itâs usually their only way out. As boxing people, we all love blood and guts fights, but I donât always think we celebrate technical skills,” he said. “A skilled fighter is often seen as a boring fighter. For the long-term health of the fighters, I would like to see a slight culture change. Letâs appreciate the skill as much as the knockouts. If a fighter is getting damaged, itâs okay to stop the fight and let them move on to the next fight.”
Poole offered more suggestions on how to make the manly art better.
“Boxing is too decentralized. There are too many competing interests. Centralization in other sports creates big television deals and media contracts and fans and influencers talking about the sports on social media. All of those outlets create a widespread conversation,” he said.
“Without any centralization, boxing canât compete and it loses fans. If boxing doesnât pit the best fighters against each other, it will continue to become a sideshow. Right now, the most talked about fights involve Jake Paul. I donât have a problem with Paul and other reality stars getting in the ring – there is a long history of these kinds of fights – but boxing isnât in a powerful position if those are the fights that the average sports fan is most passionate about.”
Another problem is that many people don’t even know who the champions are.
“Yes, it has way too many champions. Imagine if you had this same argument in basketball? Itâs dumb and hurts the sport,” Poole said.
“I think [another] thing that hurts the sport is the judging,” Poole said. “Fans are cynical because the judges score fights poorly, but they continue to get assigned big fights.”
All of these negatives don’t outweigh why boxing still appeals to Poole.
“The people, from the fighters to the promoters, are incredible. I love how technical it is,” he said. “Iâve been to big events – the World Series, The Super Bowl, World Cup – but the atmosphere at a championship fight is really the best of them all.”
And that’s the glue that keeps the sweet science together and helps a virtual unknown go on to become a legend.
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Avila Perspective, Chap. 282: Ryanâs Song, Golden Boy in Fresno and More
Donât call it an upset.
Days after Ryan Garcia proved the experts wrong, those same experts are re-tooling their evaluation processes.
Itâs mind-boggling to me that 95 percent thought Garcia had no chance. Hear me out.
First, Garcia and Haney fought six times as amateurs with each winning three. But this time with no head gear and smaller gloves, Garcia had to have at least a 50/50 chance of winning. He is faster and a more powerful puncher.
Facts.
Haney is a wonderful boxer with smooth, almost artistic movements. But history has taught us power and speed like Garciaâs canât be discounted. Think way back to legendary fighters like Willie Pep and Sandy Sadler. All that excellent defensive skill could not prevent Sadler from beating Pep in three of their four meetings.
Power has always been an equalizer against boxing skill.
Ben Lira, one of the wisest and most experienced trainers in Southern California, always professed knockout power was the greatest equalizer in a fight. âYou can be behind for nine rounds and one punch can change the outcome,â he said.
Another weird theory spreading before the fight was that Garcia would quit in the fight. That was a puzzling one. Getting stopped by a perfect body shot is not quitting. And that punch came from Gervonta âTankâ Davis who can really crack.
So how did Garcia do it?
In the opening round Ryan Garcia timed Devin Haneyâs jab and countered with a snapping left hook that rattled and wobbled the super lightweight champion. After that, Garcia forced Haney to find another game plan.
Garcia and trainer Derrick James must have worked hours on that move.
I must confess that I first saw Garciaâs ability many years ago when he was around 11 or 12. So I do have an advantage regarding his talent. A few things I noticed even back then were his speed and power. Also, that others resented his talent but respected him. He was the guy with everything: talent and looks.
And that brings resentment.
Recently I saw him and his crew rapping a song on social media. Now heâs got a song. Next thing you know Hollywood will be calling and heâll be in the movies. Itâs happened before with fighters such as Art Aragon, the first Golden Boy in the 50s. He was dating movie stars and getting involved with starlets all over Hollywood.
Is history repeating itself or is Garcia creating a new era for boxing?
Since 2016 people claimed he was just a social media creation. Now, after his win over Devin Haney a former undisputed lightweight champion and the WBC super lightweight titleholder, the boxer from the high desert area of Victorville has become one of the highest paid fighters in the world.
Ryan Garcia has entered a new dimension.
Golden Boy Season
After several down years the Los Angeles-based company Golden Boy Promotions suddenly is cracking the whip in 2024.
Vergil Ortiz Jr. (20-0, 20 KOs) returns to the ring and faces Puerto Ricoâs Thomas Dulorme (26-6-1, 17 KOs) a welterweight gatekeeper who lost to Jaron âBootsâ Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis. They meet as super welterweights in the co-main event at Save Mart Arena in Fresno, Calif. on Saturday, April 27. DAZN will stream the Golden Boy Promotions card live.
Itâs a quick return to action for Ortiz who is still adjusting to the new weight division. His last fight three months ago ended in less than one round in Las Vegas. It was cut short by an antsy referee and left Ortiz wanting more after more than a year of inactivity in the prize ring.
Ortiz has all the weapons.
Also, Northern Californiaâs Jose Carlos Ramirez (28-1, 18 KOs) meets Cubaâs Rances Barthelemy (30-2-1, 15 KOs) in a welterweight affair set for 12 rounds.
Itâs difficult to believe that former super lightweight titlist Ramirez has been written off by fans after only one loss. That was several years ago against Scotlandâs Josh Taylor. One loss does not mean the end of a career.
âMy goal is to get back on top and to get all those belts back. I still feel like I am one of the best 140-pounders in the division,â said Ramirez who lives in nearby Avenal, Calif.
An added major attraction features Marlen Esparza in a unification rematch against Gabriela âLa Chuckyâ Alaniz for the WBA, WBC, WBO flyweight titles. Their first fight was
a controversial win by Esparza that saw one judge give her nine of 10 rounds in a very close fight. Those Texas judges.
In a match that could steal the show, Oscar Duarte (26-2-1, 21 KOs) faces former world champion Jojo Diaz (33-5-1, 15 KOs) in a lightweight match.
Munguia and Canelo
Donât sleep on this match.
Its current Golden Boy fighter Jaime Munguia facing former Golden Boy fighter Saul âCaneloâ Alvarez in a battle between Mexicoâs greatest sluggers next week at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on May 4.
âI think Jaime Munguia is going to do something special in the ring,â said Oscar De La Hoya, the CEO for Golden Boy.
Tijuanaâs Munguia showed up at the Wild Card Boxing gym in Hollywood where a throng of media from Mexico and the US met him.
Munguia looked confident and happy about his opportunity to fight great Canelo.
âItâs a hard fight,â said Munguia. âTruth is, its big for Mexico and not only for Mexicans but for boxing.â
Fights to Watch
Fri. DAZN 6 p.m. Yoeniz Tellez (7-0) vs Joseph Jackson (19-0).
Sat. DAZN 9:30 a.m. Peter McGrail (8-1) vs Marc Leach (18-3-1); Beatriz Ferreira (4-0) vs Yanina Del Carmen 14-3).
Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Vergil Ortiz (20-0) vs Thomas Dulorme (26-6-1); Jose Carlos Ramirez (28-1) vs Rances Barthelemy (30-2-1); Marlen Esparza (14-1) vs Gabriela Alaniz (14-1).
Photo credit: Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy Promotions
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Ramon Cardenas Channels Micky Ward and KOs Eduardo Ramirez on ProBox
The Wednesday night bi-monthly series of fights on the ProBox TV platform is the best deal in boxing; the livestream is free with no strings attached! Tonightâs episode was headlined by a super bantamweight match between San Antonioâs Ramon Cardenas and Eduardo Ramirez who brought a caravan of rooters from his hometown in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico.
Cardenas, coached by Joel Diaz, entered the contest ranked #4 by the WBA. He was expected to handle Ramirez with little difficulty, but this was a close, tactical fight through eight frames when lightning struck in the form of a left hook to the liver from Cardenas. Ramirez went down on one knee and wasnât able to beat the count. It was as if Cardenas summoned the ghost of Micky Ward who had a penchant for terminating fights with the same punch that arrived out of the blue.
The official time was 1:37 of round nine. Cardenas improved to 25-1 with his14th win inside the distance. Ramirez, who was stopped in the opening round by Nick âWreckingâ Ball in London in his lone previous fight outside Mexico, falls to 23-3-3.
Co-Feature
In an upset, Tijuana super welterweight Damian Sosa won a split decision over previously undefeated Marques Valle, a local area fighter who was stepping up in class in his first 10-round go. Sosa was the aggressor, repeatedly backing his taller opponent into the ropes where Valle was unable to get good leverage behind his punches.
The 25-year-old Valle, managed by the influential David McWater, was the house fighter. This was his 10th appearance in this building. He brought a 10-0 (7) record and was hoping to emulate the success of his younger brother Dominic Valle who scored a second-round stoppage of his opponent in this ring two weeks ago, improving to 9-0. But Sosa, who brought a 24-2 record, proved to be a bridge too high.
The judges had it 97-93 and 96-94 for the Tijuana invader and a disgraceful 98-92 for the house fighter.
Also
In a fight whose abrupt ending would be echoed by the main event, 34-year-old SoCal featherweight Ronny Rios, now training in Las Vegas, returned to the ring after a 22-month hiatus and scored a fifth-round stoppage over Nicolas Polanco of the Dominican Republic.
A three-punch combo climaxed by a left hook to the liver took the breath out of Polanco who slumped to his knees and was counted out. A two-time world title challenger, Rios advanced to 34-4 (17 KOs). Polanco, 34, declined to 21-6-1. The official time was 0:54 of round five.
—
The next ProBox show (Wednesday, May 8) will have an international cast with fighters from Kazakhstan, Japan, Mongolia, and the United Kingdom. In the main event, Liverpoolâs Robbie Davies Jr will make his U.S. debut against the California-based Kazakh Sergey Lipinets.
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Haney-Garcia Redux with the Focus on Harvey Dock
Saturdayâs skirmish between Ryan Garcia and WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney was a messy affair, and yet a hugely entertaining fight fused with great drama. In the aftermath, Garcia and Haney were celebrated â the former for fooling all the experts and the latter for his gallant performance in a losing effort â but there were only brickbats for the third man in the ring, referee Harvey Dock.
Devin Haney was plainly ahead heading into the seventh frame when there was a sudden turnabout when Garcia put him on the canvas with his vaunted left hook. Moments later, Dock deducted a point from Garcia for a late punch coming out of a break. The deduction forced a temporary cease-fire that gave Haney a few precious seconds to regain his faculties. Before the round was over, Haney was on the deck twice more but these were ruled slips.
The deduction, which effectively negated the knockdown, struck many as too heavy-handed as Dock hadnât previously issued a warning for this infraction. Moreover, many thought he could have taken a point away from Haney for excessive clinching. As for Haneyâs second and third trips to the canvas in round seven, they struck this reporter â watching at home â as borderline, sufficient to give referee Dock the benefit of the doubt.
In a post-fight interview, Ryan Garcia faulted the referee for denying him the satisfaction of a TKO. âAt the end of the day, Harvey Dock, I think he was tripping,â said Garcia. âHe could have stopped that fight.â
Those that played the rounds proposition, placing their coin on the âunder,â undoubtedly felt the same way.
The internet lit up with comments assailing Dockâs competence and/or his character. Some of the ponderings were whimsical, but they were swamped by the scurrilous screeching of dolts who find a conspiracy under every rock.
Stephen A. Smith, reputedly Americaâs highest-paid TV sports personality, was among those that felt a need to weigh-in: âThis referee is absolutely terribleâŠ.Unreal! Horrible officiating,â tweeted Stephen A whose primary area of expertise is basketball.
Harvey Dock
Dock fought as an amateur and had one professional fight, winning a four-round decision over a fellow novice on a show at a non-gaming resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He says that as an amateur he was merely average, but he was better than that, a New Jersey and regional amateur champion in 1993 and 1994 while a student New Jerseyâs Essex County Community College where he majored in journalism.
A passionate fan of Sugar Ray Leonard, he started officiating amateur fights in 1998 and six years later, at age 32, had his first documented action at the professional level, working low-level cards in New Jersey. The top boxing referees, to a far greater extent than the top judges, had long apprenticeships, having worked their way up from the boonies and Dock is no exception.
Per boxrec, Haney vs Garcia was Harvey Dockâs 364th assignment in the pros and his forty-second world title fight. Some of those title fights were title in name only, they werenât even main events, but, bit by bit, more lucrative offerings started coming his way.
On May 13, 2023, Dock worked his first fights in Nevada, a 4-rounder and then a 12-rounder on a card at the Cosmopolitan topped by the 140-pound title fight between Rolly Romero and Ismael Barroso. It was the first time that this reporter got to watch Dock in the flesh.
Ironically (in hindsight), the card would be remembered for the actions of a referee, in this case Tony Weeks who handled the main event. Barroso was winning the fight on all three cards when Weeks stepped in and waived it off in the ninth round after Romero cornered Barroso against the ropes and let loose a barrage of punches, none of which landed cleanly. Few âpremature stoppagesâ were ever as garishly, nay ghoulishly, premature.
With all the brickbats raining down on Weeks, I felt a need to tamp down the noise by diverting attention away from Tony Weeks and toward Harvey Dock and took to the TSS Forum to share my thoughts. Referencing the 12-rounder, a robust junior welterweight affair between Batyr Akhmedov and Kenneth Sims Jr, I noted that Dockâs Las Vegas debut went smoothly. He glided effortlessly around the ring, making him inconspicuous, the mark of a good referee. (This post ran on May 15, two days after the fight.)
Folks at the Nevada State Athletic Commission were also paying attention. Dock was back in Las Vegas the following week to referee the lightweight title fight between Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko and before the year was out, he would be tabbed to referee the biggest non-heavyweight fight of the year, the July 29 match in Las Vegas between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr.
The Haney-Garcia fight wasnât Harvey Dockâs best hour, Iâll concede that, but a closer look at his full body of work informs us that he is an outstanding referee.
—
While the Haney-Garcia bout was in progress, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman threw everyone a curve ball, tweeting on âXâ that Devin Haney would keep his title if he lost the fight. Everyone, including the TV commentators, was under the impression that the title would become vacant in the event that Haney lost.
Sulaiman cited the precedent of Corrales-Castillo II.
FYI: The Corrales-Castillo rematch, originally scheduled for June 3, 2005 and aborted on the day prior when Castillo failed to make weight, finally came off on Oct. 8 of that year, notwithstanding the fact that Castillo failed to make weight once again, scaling three-and-a-half pounds above the lightweight limit. He knocked out Corrales in the fourth round with a left hook that Las Vegas Review-Journal boxing writer Kevin Iole, alluding to the movie âBlazing Saddles,â described as Mongo-esque (translation: the punch would have knocked out a horse). After initially insisting on a rubber match, which had scant chance of happening, WBC president Jose Sulaiman, Mauricioâs late father, ruled that Corrales could keep his title.
Whether or not you agree with Mauricio Sulaimanâs rationale, the timing of his announcement was certainly awkward.
Haneyâs mandatory is Spanish southpaw Sandor Martin (42-3, 15 KOs), a cutie best known for his 2021 upset of Mikey Garcia. A bout between Haney and Martin has the earmarks of a dull fight.
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