Part 1 of 3: As the build-up to the biggest payday in sports history begins, The National brings you exclusive pictures of Manny Pacquiao ahead of his megafight with Floyd Mayweather on May 2. We kick off our series of photo essays by looking at Manny, the boxer, throughout his resurgent 2014, through the lens of the former photographer for The National, Mike Young, who spent 18 months on the inside of Team Pacquiao.
Any doubts Manny Pacquiao’s best days were behind him were dispelled in his last two bouts as the aggression, hand speed and power that made the Filipino fighter a champion in eight divisions were back on ruthless display.
In these images, supplied to The National exclusively by Mike Young, a former photographer at this newspaper, we see him training hard at the gym in General Santos city in the Philippines in preparation for the defence of his World Boxing Organisation welterweight title against Chris Algieri in Macau. His trainer Freddie Roach puts the “Pac Man” through his paces, working him hard on the pads and bag.
The hard work and hours of punishment served Pacquiao in good stead in November last year as he assaulted Algieri’s body with shots that left his American opponent breathless.
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The previously unbeaten Algieri was sent to the canvas on six occasions as Pacquiao produced arguably his most dominant display since his 12-round TKO of Miguel Cotto four years earlier.
Pacquiao was a majority winner on the judges’ scorecards, 119-103, 119-103 and 120-102, and despite failing to stop an opponent inside the distance for the ninth consecutive fight, his lopsided victory reaffirmed his status as one of boxing’s big tickets, setting him up for what will be the sport’s single biggest payday and arguably the most-anticipated fight since “Sugar” Ray Leonard faced “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler 28 years ago.
If the Algieri fight was a display of Pacquiao’s destructive power, his contest against Timothy Bradley, who had scored a controversial points decision in their first bout nearly two years earlier, was a clinic in speed and lightning-quick combinations.
Pacquiao’s skills and desire had been under scrutiny before the fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the venue for his fight with Mayweather on May 2, but they were put to bed as Pacquiao schooled his American opponent in the art of getting in, doing the damage and getting out before getting hit.
A trait not often attributed to Pacquiao is good footwork and defence, but Bradley, known more as a ring technician than a brawler, was reduced to wild, swinging haymakers as he failed to get close. Pacquiao took the decision with a unanimous verdict. In avenging his 2012 defeat, it also meant he had beaten every American opponent he had faced.
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