No way for Pacquiao to lose to Solis

By Al S. Mendoza

I HOPE that by the time you read this (this was written in advance last Wednesday, April 11, for deadline purposes), the Pacquiao-Solis fight isn’t over yet. But if it is, I bet you, Pacquiao had won by knockout. That had been my prediction from the day the bout was inked.

I could be wrong. Solis (Jorge) was unbeaten when he climbed the ring today.

In 34 fights before he met Pacquiao (Manny) today in San Antonio, Texas, Solis had strung up 32 wins; the remaining 2 ended in draws. Of those 32 wins, 23 were by knockout.

At 27, Solis was the youngest of the last seven fighters Pacquiao, 28, met the last four years.  Pacquiao lost just once—to Erik Morales in their first meeting in 2005.

But as I said here before, Pacquiao lost to Morales in their first bout because Pacquiao suffered a nasty cut in the eyebrow due to a head butt in the fifth.

Had that head butt not happened, I believe Pacquiao could have knocked Morales out. 

Pacquiao, with his vision blurred by blood oozing down his cheeks from the fifth, eventually lost on points but not after almost decking Morales in the late rounds.

The fight record of Pacquiao is so awesome Solis, though unbeaten, must have fought scared today.

In his 48 fights since he turned pro in 1995, Pacquiao has fought the best in his 130-pound division.  Two of them—Mexican legends Marco Antonio Barrera and Morales—he had knocked out like 32 others.

Barrera went down in 11 rounds in 2003, and Morales twice in 2006 (in the 10th round in January and in the third in November).

Curiously, like Solis, both Barrera and Morales had never been knocked out before they met Pacquiao. 

If Solis doesn’t get knocked out today, it wasn’t Pacquiao up there in the ring fighting the Mexican from Gudalajara City.

Look, if you compare Solis with Barrera and Morales, Solis is miles away from the legend his countrymen had built in the roped ring.

There is not a single big-name boxer in the list of fighters that Solis had met. Said in kanto talk, mga istambay at kamaganak lahat ng tinalo ni Solis.

Presumably, all of Solis’ 34 opponents were mere patsies. His 23 knockout victims could be gas station mechanics lured to don gloves for a week’s pay at the shop.

Solis has been listed as 5-foot-10.  Wrong. How can he be 5-foot-10 when his real fighting weight is 126 pounds?

He’s actually just a shade taller than Pacquiao at 5-foot-7.  And in this fight, he had to go up to at least 129 to qualify him to challenge Pacquiao’s WBC 130-lb international super featherweight crown.

In short, Solis is what you call the “protected boxer.”  His handlers made sure he’d fight only the winnable fights to shortcut his way to the world rankings.

How can a fight against a guy like Pacquiao winnable?

So, I predict a Pacquiao victory in three rounds. It can even end in a Round 1 knockout for Pacquiao.

Now if Solis makes the unbelievable and proceeds to defeat Pacquiao, drat and darn.

That’d be like seeing Brian Lim beat Al Fernandez in the May election mayoralty derby in our beloved city of Dagupan.

Yuk!

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/general-admission/)

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