Part I: Some words for Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao

Manny: Congratulations on your latest win. You beat an immovable object in Joshua Clottey, a man who was not weight drained, had a good chin, taller, bigger, a shell of a defense, and good infighting skills. It was a decent consulation prize for those of us who wanted to see you take on a fresh opponent and wanted to see an underrated challenger like Clottey get a shot on the big stage against the biggest star in boxing. However I gotta say my friend, since the Miguel Cotto fight you have been disappointing me a little. This may be a hangover to the fact that like the rest of the world, I had been enthralled by your improvement, out of the ring personality, and the Taz devil mentality you fight with. Some of it's not your fault at all, it's your fans who will answer any boxing related question with "Manny's the GOAT", or "how dare you question" this that and the other about your boxing abilities or integrity outside the ring. BUT, I wish you had not dropped out of the Floyd fight for two reasons, one inside the ring and one outside the ring.

To start, we have not yet seen you go up against a slick defensive fighter who's able to move away from your attack. The last guy who comes remotely close to that that you fought was Juan Manuel Marquez, and there's an argument to be made that you have not yet beaten him in two fights. I believe you won the first because of that monster first round you had, but the second one I think he edged you man. I think you've improved enough to where now you would beat him, even if it was at 130 again, but it would still be a difficult fight. You had a couple of those guys calling your name, Joan Guzman and Nate Campbell, but your team ignored them. If you had fought and beaten Floyd, you would get no argument from me as being the best all around fighter since Shane Mosley was a lightweight. Now I understand Oscar, Hatton, and Cotto were the big money fights, so I don't blame you for taking those, but at the same time you need to tell your fans to chill on saying you're better than Sugar Ray Robinson or Henry Armstrong, cause your skillset and resume both fall way short of those two guys.

The outside the ring reason of course being the fact that they drummed up some ridiculous accusations that you're doping. I'm in the camp that says show me some solid evidence or witnesses and then I'll listen, but you have to realize that in the public eye you're guilty until innocent, and even if not, people are still going to talk about this issue until you make it go away with a random blood test protocol. If people are STILL gonna talk about it after, then you just gotta let it be, but not until you've done all in your power to quiet them.

This is not to say I don't acknowledge your greatness as a fighter. Definitely to go division hopping like you did and dominate some of the better fighters each division had to offer you have proven your ability and that you'd be a threat to beat anyone south of 154, but by doing that you have been able to avoid a lot of different styles without anyone calling you out on it. I know that you yourself are not afraid to face anyone as long as the negotiations line up right, but it doesn't change the fact that there's some guys out there that we would like to see you face.

Part II will have words for Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr.