Legendary multi-weight king Manny Pacquiao fought just about everyone he could during his long and storied career.
Pacquiao’s life will surely be one day made into a movie: he famously walked off the streets of the Philippines as an under-nourished child, into a gym and to his first world title aged just 19. That was in the flyweight division and from there he went on to hold 11 more world titles across a total of eight weight classes.
He became a widely adored pound-for-pound king who was involved in classic fights with renowned Mexican boxers like Marco Antonio Barrera, whom he defeated twice, Erik Morales, whom he beat twice in a trilogy, and Juan Manuel Marquez, whom he beat twice, lost to once and drew with once.
He of course faced off with his career-long rival Floyd Mayweather in 2015 but came out on the wrong side of a points loss. He also took to the ring against big names like Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley and Tim Bradley.
When Ring TV asked him to speak about the hardest hitters he ever faced, he went with Antonio Margarito, a man he defeated to claim the WBC Super Welterweight in 2010.
“Big and strong is an understatement. His body shots hurt me several times throughout our fight.”
Further details on the punches came in an interview reported by Marca in which the PacMan claimed he felt ‘surprised’ to have got through the fight.
“His punch is different. It was surprising that I survived that fight. I could take the punches, I could take the blows, but after the fight I could feel something, it was too much for me.”
Pacquiao remained at the top of the sport to the very end, picking up good wins against established fighters like Keith Thurman.
