Pacquiao wins against Margarito: The Science of the Pacman

Ah, the sweet science of fighting. 


It was evident at the fourth round that everything is going against the Mexican boxer, Antonio Margarito.


Margarito, despite his weight and height advantage, showed no visible skills to outclass the Filipino pound for pound champion. I mean, the 5'6 Manny Pacquiao dominated the 5'11 Antonio Margarito of Mexico. That round proved to all and sundry that Margarito does not have the skills to turn his physical advantages into opportunities.


Margarito's punches does not have the superior punching power compared with the Pacman. Margarito lumbers like a blind giant, trying to gain balance. While the Pacman looks entirely prepared and both physically and mentally superior than the 3-time Mexican world champion.

Before the fight, Margarito was evidently nervous. He was always babbling, singing his national anthem and trying to prep himself up--signs of nervousness. 


And that's what defeated Margarito--he does not have the right balance to power his punches. Look at the legs--Manny's leg muscles are all firm while Margarito's not as firm, showing to all that Margarito still lacks the proper preparation to defeat a faster opponent.


Pacman's stronger punches did Margarito in. Pacman's hand speed is tremendous, his movements within the ring shows generalship and his quick defenses avoided possible serious injuries from Margarito's punches.


Even in their jabs, Margarito's are a bit slower and lacks power while the Pacman's are all power. Pacquiao's one-two-three combination stuns his opponents and there is nothing, oh, nothing that can defeat that for the moment. Muhammad Ali was just a one-two puncher. Ali defeats his enemies by the volume of his punches.

In Pacman's case, his punch packs a whallop enough to probably put to sleep an amateur fighter in just a few minutes in the fight. 


For the first first, second and third rounds, the Pacman punched Margarito's mid-section. This is a tactic to hurt the fighter for the boxer to lose the ability to breathe much better. 


If you can't breathe normally, you cannot punch as strong as you want. A couple of hard punches in Margarito's mid-section lost the string in the Mexican boxer's jabs and punches. 


Without enough power to even cause Pacman problems, the Filipino boxer then focused his attention at Margarito's face. He baited Margarito and waited for the time to unleash those blows to the face. His six-punch combination landed straight in the face of the Mexican. Those blows hit his right eye. It was swollen from the fourth to the last round.


So, clearly the tactic was:


1. First, try to soften Margarito's stinging blows by punching his stomach. Without power in his punches  and jabs, Margarito is nothing.
2. Then, try to damage his sight. Concentrate blows to his face, particularly his eyes. Without sight, Margarito's height and weight advantages are nothing.
3. Try to bait him to a brawl. With Margarito weakened, and his sight blurred, he cannot execute a very good punch. If he goes in, and brawls, the Pacman has now the advantage to knock him out. There were several brawls in the fight and it was obvious that despite being cornered, the Pacman did not show being seriously hurt. Reason? No sting in Margarito's punches.
4. With a weaker fighter, it would be cruising through for the Pacman.


The entire fight should be a classic one for those serious in studying fight science. 


The Pacman's secret punch lies in his correct posture and balance. He uses his left foot to gain more power from the ground and translate it into tremendous energy from his torso to his arm and to his fists. Look at the photo at the right, Pacman's posture is the secret to his tremendous power. When he unleashes those punches, he uses his foot to balance himself and translate that power from the ground up. Look at the muscles in his lower leg. That shows you how powerful those punches are because the correct mass was distributed equally in his legs, torso and upper body.


Look at the body of Margarito--yes, it was also toned. But, the mass was unequally distributed. He made efforts to expand his chest but never his calves. Reason for that? Strategy. Margarito bulked up to be able to absorb the tremendous pressure from a Pacquiao punch. He never thought that the only thing that would defeat Pacquiao is basically be a lot faster in hand speed than the world's best pound-for-pound boxer. 


Now, do we need the gay Floyd Mayweather Jr. to prove that Pacman is the greatest fighter to have ever lived?


No. 


Mayweather Jr. can choose to dilly-dally, to mock the Pacman but one thing is sure--Mayweather Jr. does not have what it takes to really put himself toe-to-toe with the greatest boxer in world history.