Pacquiao to win by knockout

By Al S. Mendoza

WILL Manny Pacquiao win today, January 20?

But, of course.  By knockout even.

Not because he is our kabaleyan that’s why I’m saying he’s going to win.

He is still strong.  He is prepared.  He is focused.

Pacquiao can still dish out knockout punches.

He proved it in his last fight when he stopped Lucas Matthysse of Argentina in July to capture the WBA world welterweight crown.

Never mind that Matthysse kneeled more than kissed the canvas so that in utter shame, he retired after the mismatch.

That was Pacquiao’s first knockout win in nine years, with Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto as his last knockout victim in 2009.

Pacquiao will destroy Broner because he trained so hard as usual in Manila, GenSan and, finally, Los Angeles.

With Pacquiao, every fight is a first.  To him, no foe should be taken for granted.

Like in his first 69 fights—give or take away one or a couple—he’s as focused as a spider building his web.

In fact, so impressed was Freddie Roach that he keeps on saying Pacquiao will knock out Broner early in the fight.

A bold prediction, indeed, since Pacquiao is already 40 years old and Broner is only 29.

And, yes, Broner has never been stopped in his first 37 fights.

Broner, from Cincinnati, Ohio, isn’t a patsy, mind you.  He has been a four-time world champion himself.

While he has lost three times, all of them came on mere points.

In his 33 wins, 24 came by way of knockout.

Those are credentials that aren’t to be just ignored.

There is power indeed in Broner’s fists.

And look at this:  Broner has beaten all six southpaws that he had faced. 

Can Pacquiao, a southpaw, break Broner’s streak?

I believe so.

Broner lost three of his last six fights.  In his last outing, he could only earn a draw.

The American, queerly nicknamed “The Problem” not because his fighting style  had posed a problem to his foes but he is a problematic person himself, was more than 30 pounds overweight days before he inked the fight contract.

Reports said he has tapered off to the weight limit of 147 pounds days before today’s (PHL time) fight scheduled for12 rounds in Las Vegas.

But losing so much weight in the run-up to a fight is a big no-no to a fighter.

It will drain his power, and his energy can become suspect on fight night.

But for Pacquiao, he has always been comfortable at 147.

After today, I can see Pacquiao next rushing to the board room to map out plans for his rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

For, truth to tell, Broner is but Pacquiao’s stepping stone towards another megafight with Mayweather.

And, who knows, the rematch might yet lead to a trilogy.  I can see money, money, money flowing everywhere again.

As I keep saying, in boxing, nothing is impossible.

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