The Greatness of Manny Pacquiao

The seven weight divisions status means little to me, as many of the weight divisions are artificial not natural. Yes, I know weight are all artificial in the sense that they are human creactions and have changed historically. By saying the junior titles are not natural, I mean they are not original - a fact - and they add nothing to the sport - my opinion - and that it is unfair to boxers who won three titles in the natural weight divisions (Armstrong, Duran) to have their accomplishments eclipsed by modern day fighters who can put on a few pounds and win a title - and they have so many to choose from, another absurdity - in another weight division, a complaint that seems so obvious to me as to be uncontroversial. At best, Manny has claims to championships in two weight classes: flyweight and lightweight. That's something in itself.

What is more significant about Manny is that he has moved from being a world class flyweight (WBC is a venerable authority going back to the 1960s) to a world class lightweight (again, winning the WBC title), and is now competing among the best welterweights in the world. He has secured his pound-for-pound status by beating top fighters across a great weight span and by displaying rare ability. If we were to judge fighters like Manny on accomplishments, any record book that honored the tradition of boxing would not have Manny accomplishing much at this point (he only defended his WBC flyweight title once and didn't defend his lightweight title at all). But if we judge him the way we judge Ezzard Charles, Sam Langford, Charlie Burley, and other all-time greats who didn't accumulate titles, then Manny shines. He's a throwback, and if he beats Floyd Mayweather, I think he's top twenty all-time material.

Hopkins and Title Defenses

Bernard Hopkins did not register twenty defenses of the world middleweight championship for the simple fact that many of his purported title defenses were not for the world middleweight championship. Moreover, the IBF title is not only not the world championship but isn't a legitimate boxing title, for it has no history and its existence, like the existence of most of the purported world boxing titles, is detrimental to the sport of boxing. Only the WBA and the WBC organizations have a history and have advanced the sport, both going back to the 1960s and furthermore are rooted in championship organizations (NBA and NYSAC) going back to the early decades of the twentieth century.

If we recognize Hopkins as becoming middleweight champion of the world with his April 2001 victory over Keith Holmes, the established two-time WBC champion, then Hopkins recorded seven successful title defenses before losing his claim to Jermaine Taylor. But even then this is problematic. Arguably, if we apply the old rules, Hopkins was never middleweight champion at all.

In 1987, Marvin Hagler was the linear champion. He held a lineage unbroken since the 1940s. He lost his championship to Ray Leonard that year. Leonard defended his championship successfully once, against Roberto Duran in 1989, and this lost it to Terry Norris in 1991. Why lineage is tranferred is very clear: championships are foremost won and lost in the ring, all of these fights were under the middleweight limit of 160 lbs, and Leonard never really retired after his fight with Hagler. Thus lineage transfers down the line. Keith Mullings beat Norris (who was three time middleweight champion by then) in 1997. Javier Castillejo beat Mullings in 1999 and then lost to Oscar de la Hoya in 2001. Shane Mosley beat de la Hoya in 2003 and then lost to Winky Wright in 2004. Paul Williams beat Wright in 2009. Thus Paul Williams stands in a direct line to the middleweight championship that can be traced to the 1950s.

But, Andy, many of these were light middleweight champions. Irrelevant. Robinson often fought as a middleweight weighing between 147 and 154 lbs. The junior middleweight division is an artificial weight class. The 160 lbs division is an original weight class, and any fight in which the participants weigh less than 160 lbs and the linear middleweight championship is present is for the middleweight championship. Old school, I know, but old school rules almost always brings sanity to boxing (with the exception of Ray Robinson's return to the sport, and there things are very messy).


Whatever the case, this remains indisputably true: Carlos Monzon has the most title defenses of any middleweight champion (not titlist or claimant) with 14 and Marvin Hagler is second on the list with 13 (his last defense was unsuccessful).