It was easy, remembering when - Pacman's US debut

This is probably the first time most of you saw Pacquiao fight, and when most realised what a badass he really is.

Here's a reminder, the fight he took on 12 days notice.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=aVhgiLMukIo

One thing that amazes me is Pacquiao is literally as fast now as he was at 122. He's retained 100% of his speed, I've never seen anything like it.

 

Man I was still in University during that time. I remember watching this fight at my parents home (I used to eat at my parents home during the weekends to save money).

I remember reading a quote a few months before this fight where Pacquiao said he wanted to fight Naz, and that he had more "Machismo" than Hamed. ::

The funny thing is, we had seen Pacquiao fighting since Arnel Barotillo because ABS-CBN used to air his fights occasionally, and we knew that he had a good chance to beat Ledwaba even though everyone else thought Pacquiao was just being brought in to fall down. :atu:

 

I have that fight on tape. Ledwaba was very highly rated at that time.

 

I saw that fight live, I felt sorry for Ledwaba. Manny is a freak of nature...

 

ummm no

maybe 70%

 

yeah, he was on the brink of being big shakes at that point and certainly being talked about to match up in big fights against MAB etc. I'd never heard of Manny going into that fight and assumed it would be a routine defense.:fightme:

 

This was on the undercard for DLH/Castillejo, right?

Who would have imagined Pacquiao would stop Oscar years later? Insane.

 

Seems like Roach has been with Manny since forever. Anybody knows how Roach ended up training him?

 

Yes.

Pacquiao's Philippine manager Rex Wakee Salud introduced Roach and Pacquiao. After Pacquiao had trouble with Nedal Hussein, Salud saw that Pacquiao had a lot of raw physical attributes but needed an "American" trainer to hone his skills. So they went to the states looking for an American trainer for Pacquiao, and Roach ended up being the guy they found. I believe the Ledwaba fight was their first fight together.

It's funny, I was watching an interview on ABS-CBN about Salud and Pacquiao before the Dela Hoya fight. Salud was saying things like "Why did you make this fight Manny? He's going to win." ::

Manny's response was reportedly, "Relax!" :kidcool:

 

That's cool. But why Roach? I heard there are manny pinoy people living near his gym in california. Maybe that had something to do with it?

 

Well the whole story is complicated.

Salud and Pacquiao are really good friends. Salud is a business man, and Pacquiao is just a fighter. Salud saw this talent in Pacquiao and wanted to get Pacquiao fighting in the U.S for the big dollars. So before even Roach, they needed to find a promoter in the U.S who would get fights for Pacquiao in the states.

At this time, Salud had sent tapes of Pacquiao to all the big promoters (including Top Rank ironically), and no one bit. Top Rank, Don King, Main Events and Joe Goosen, no one showed any interest in Pac at all. So it seemed all the doors were closed.

So Salud contacted a S.F lawyer named Sydney Hall who he met through friends. Hall was friends with Sampson Lewkowicz who had business relations with Murad Muhammad at the time (remember him??). Lewkowicz (who works for G now I think) convinced Murad to promote Pacquiao in the states based off some of the tapes he saw that Salud sent him.

After Murad agreed to this, they had to find a U.S gym for Pacquiao, and Murad apparently had other fighters training out of Wild Card. So Murad setup a meeting with Salud, Pacquiao, and Freddie Roach. Pacquiao I think spent a few days there, and Roach was impressed enough to say yes.

The rest is history.

 

Yeah, I remember Murad, the bastard stole money from Pacquiao... I'm glad Salud gave him the boot.

 

It's funny, after I saw Pacquiao fuck up Ledwaba I took a look at some of his older fights and I wasn't to impressed. I was impressed by his destruction of Ledwaba but was still kind of skeptical overall. He was fast but his tecnique was much worse than it is now, Pacquiao has improved 1000%.

 

Top 5 people responsible for blasting off Pacquiao's career:

1. Rex Salud
2. Freddie Roach
3. Murad Muhammad (though I hate to admit it).
4. Enrique Sanchez (for getting sick before his fight with Ledwaba). ::
5. Sydney Hall

 

6. Alabama man?

 

It strikes me that Pacquiao is a much better fighter now than in the Ledwaba fight.

 

Did pac ruin Ledwaba? seems Ledwaba couldn't rebound from that lost.

 

yeah. much better head movement, much more composed, much better with angles, much better at picking a shot
:bears:

 

I definitely belong in the top 5

 

Indeed. He gets hit much less nowadays. He hit Delahoya many times with the strait left and moved to the left out of Delahoya's righthand.

 

he is so much more fluid now....almost in every repspect.....upper body and foot movement....and the way he delivers his punches....i don't look back at that and wonder why we didn't spot a superstar in the making at the time.....it is all testament to the improvement he has made since....that, as well as the way he moved up the weights, has got to be a big inspriration to a lot of fighters starting out

 

Was it Sanchez? I recall it being Clarence "Bones" Adams who pulled out of the Ledwaba fight.

 

He's the same fighter.
Much improved, my ass.
His ass kicking of dlh was no more impressive nor difficult than his ass kicking of barrera.

 

Bless you ArturoGatti. ray:

 

No it was Sanchez.

 

No, he is much better. Better defense, better punch selection, better jab, better right hook, better head movement, more side to side movement. Just better all round really.

He was more ferocious back then, but technically he is much better now.

 

Did you pick Pacq against dlh?

 

No I picked Oscar, in fact I was fairly sure that Pacman was just too small, and wouldn't be able to take Oscar's left hook, and it was only a matter of time before it landed flush. I was very wrong, and very glad to be wrong.

 

Ledwaba was a good fighter.Its a shame he never recover from that fight.

 

i agree i was skeptical as well. especially if you saw one of his more recent fights either leading up to or right after the ledwaba match. he fought a guy called Nadal Hussein and Hussein dropped Manny like a sack of potatoes with a jab. Pac got a long count when he was dropped too.

ledwaba had one of the funniest "excuses" if you will before thre pacquiao match - he said he couldnt wait to get out of las vegas because it was so hot..... the guy is from AFRICA!