No hard feelings

Only seven fighters can boast of having put boxing legend Manny Pacquiao on the canvas. The first to do it was Rustico Torrecampo who halted Pacquiao in the third round in Mandaluyong in 1996. Pacquiao scaled over the weight limit for the fight and was penalized by wearing bigger gloves, softening the impact of his punches to compensate for his excess poundage.

The second was Medgeon 3-K Battery who stopped a dehydrated Pacquiao with a body shot in the third round of a WBC flyweight title fight in Thailand. Once again, Pacquiao failed to make the weight limit and was stripped of the crown on the scales. The match went on just the same with the title awarded to Medgeon if he won and the throne declared vacant if Pacquiao won. Pacquiao was so drained that he would’ve fallen from a glancing blow and that’s exactly what happened as he avoided a battering.

The third was Australia’s Nedal Hussein who floored Pacquiao with a vicious left to the jaw in the fourth round at the Ynares Center in Antipolo in 2000. Referee Carlos (Sonny) Padilla did everything he could legally do to delay the proceedings and give Pacquiao a few more seconds to clear the cobwebs in his head. Hussein’s cornerman Jeff Fenech, a former world champion, howled in protest over Padilla’s tactics. But Padilla, who worked the Thrilla In Manila between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1975, was unperturbed. A long count saved Pacquiao who went on to stop Hussein in the 10th round on cuts.

Last Saturday, Hussein’s brother Billy was in Cebu City to work unbeaten Australian Paul Fleming’s corner against Mexico’s Miguel Angel Gonzalez in the Nonito Donaire-Zsolt Bedak undercard.

‘Billy said he was in Antipolo when Pacquiao got a lift from Padilla. “Yeah, it was a long count but that’s boxing,” he said. “We’re all good now. No hard feelings. We’ve moved on. My brothers (Nedal and Hussy) and I are huge Pacquiao fans. (ALA trainer) Edito (Villamor) is my good friend.”

Billy was an amateur fighter who never turned pro. Instead, he trained his brothers. Nedal, now 38, campaigned from 1997 to 2007 and finished his career with a 43-5 record, including 27 KOs. He was once the WBU superbantamweight champion but never held the crown of a major governing body despite two challenges. Hussy, 40, fought as a pro from 1998 to 2008 and lost to Mexico’s Jorge Arce on a second round stoppage for the interim WBC flyweight crown in Las Vegas in 2005.

“We’ve got the biggest boxing stable in Australia,” he said. “Right now, we’re training 14 pros, including former world champion Billy Dib. We operate two Bodypunch boxing gyms in Sydney. One of our top boxers is Fleming.”

The fourth was Kazakhstan’s Serikzhan Yeshmegambetov who decked Pacquiao in the fourth round at the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta Park in 2003. Pacquiao floored the Kazakh in the first round and toyed with him when he got careless and took a shot on the chin. Pacquiao recovered to dispose of Yeshmegambetov in the fifth.

The fifth was Mexico’s Marco Antonio Barrera who scored a first round knockdown in San Antonio, also in 2003.  It was actually a slip but referee Laurence Cole gave Pacquiao a mandatory eight-count. Pacquiao downed Barrera twice, once in the third round, before Cole stepped in with four seconds left to end the 11th. At the time of the stoppage, Pacquiao led on the three judges scorecards, 97-90, 97-90, 97-89. The win earned for Pacquiao recognition as the lineal and Ring Magazine featherweight champion.

The sixth was Sugar Shane Mosley who was credited with an undeserved knockdown in the 10th round in Las Vegas in 2011. Mosley, floored by Pacquiao in the third, pushed the Filipino to the deck and referee Kenny Bayless ruled it a knockdown. Pacquiao got up quickly and was clearly unhurt. A video replay on the giant screen at the venue showed it was a push and not a knockdown, drawing a chorus of boos from the spectators in reaction to Bayless’ call. Bayless later apologized for the mistake. Pacquiao defeated Mosley by a mile, 119-108, 120-107, 120-108. The judges disregarded Bayless’ knockdown call and none gave Mosley a 10-8 round.

Finally, the last man to put Pacquiao on the floor was Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas in 2012. Marquez decked Pacquiao with a long right straight in the third then finished him off with a counter right hook with a second to go in the sixth. Pacquiao was ahead on the judges scorecards, 47-46 thrice, when tragedy struck. Marquez was floored in the fifth and on his way to a knockout defeat when he landed a lights-out shot on Pacquiao.