INFOGRAPHIC: Manny Pacquiao, then and now

MANILA, Philippines – Eight-division world champion boxer Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao will be taking on perhaps the most important fight at this stage of his career when he steps into the ring with Brandon Rios.

Pacquiao is coming off two consecutive setbacks. First was a split decision loss to American Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley. Second was a shocking knockout loss to long-time Mexican rival Juan Manuel Marquez.

Is the People’s Champ running out of steam?

Rappler takes a look at some of Pacquiao’s fights from 2007 to 2009 and from 2010 to 2012, using punch stats from Compubox, to try and answer the question.

From 2007 to 2009, Pacquiao had 6 fights (all wins) that lasted a total of 51 rounds.
From 2010 to 2012, Pacquiao had 6 fights (4 decision wins, 2 losses) that lasted 66 rounds.

From 2007 to 2009, in more fights but fewer rounds, Pacquiao managed to throw 3,414 punches and land 1,160 of them for a 33.98% accuracy rate.

From 2010 to 2012, in less fights but more rounds, Pacquiao managed to throw 4612 punches and land 1467 of them for a 31.8% accuracy rate.

Power punch stats were incomplete for the 2007 to 2009 duration but Pacquiao, then aged 28 to 31, finished off his opponents early, going the full 12 rounds only twice (against Marquez in 2008 and against Cotto in 2009)

The 2010 to 2012 Pacquiao, aged 32 to 34, visibly slowed down needing all 12 rounds to win and losing in the 6th round via knockout against Marquez in 2012.

Basing strictly on these numbers, time seems to have caught up with the world boxing champion.

But boxing is more than just numbers and statistics. There are multiple dynamics that change the way a fight plays out. For example, Pacquiao was able to throw over 1,200 punches in his fight againt Joshua Clottey because the Ghanian simply opted to hide behind his shell the entire fight.

Regardless, a physical decline is slightly evident in Pacquiao, and the numbers do seem to support that.

In his December 2012 fight vs Marquez, he seemed like he was on his way to taking down the Mexican fighter, but Marquez timed and landed a perfect counter punch to a charging Pacquiao.

On November 24, the Pacman will face off against a young boxer approaching his prime. Rios, at 27, has publicly declared he wants to send Pacquiao to retirement. Team Pacquiao claims that’s an empty boast. – Rappler.com

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