Pacquiao's evolution: From beanpole to brawler, wild man to warrior

When Manny Pacquiao steps into the ring on Saturday (Sunday, PHL time) against Timothy Bradley, he will be far removed from the teenager who made his professional debut in 1995. The Sarangani rep has gone from 98-pound, one-dimensional puncher to the chiseled ring maestro who headlines the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The eight-division champion As the story goes, a teenaged Pacquiao weighed a mere 98 pounds, well under the 105 pound floor for the minimumweight division. To meet the catchweight, Pacquiao slipped steel into his pockets during the weigh-in, bringing him up to 106 pounds for his debut bout against Edmund Ignacio, which he won by unanimous decision, back in January of 1995. Since then, Pacquiao has been packing more heft and more muscle to his 5'6.5" frame, with a few huge jumps along the way as he moved up from flyweight to bantamweight to featherweight, to where he is now, welterweight. The chart below displays some of the highlights of Pacquiao's growth. With the Pacman clocking in at an all-time high of 147 pounds at his weigh-in Friday (Saturday morning, PHL time), could that possibly have an effect when he fights Bradley, who weighed in at a pound less?

Weight	Time	Opponent	Result	Category
98 pounds	January 22, 1995	Edmund Ignacio	Win by UD	light flyweight
112 pounds	February 2, 1996	Rustico Torrecampo	Loss by KO	light flyweight
122 pounds (weight limit)	June 23, 2001	Lehlohonolo Ledwaba	Win by TKO	super bantamweight
126 pounds (weight limit)	November 15, 2003	Marco Antonio Barrera	Win by TKO	featherweight
129.5 pounds	March 19, 2005	Erik Morales	Loss by UD	super featherweight
134.5 pounds	June 28, 2008	David Diaz	Win by TKO	lightweight
138 pounds	May 2, 2009	Ricky Hatton	Win by KO	light welterweight
144 pounds	November 14, 2009	Miguel Cotto	Win by TKO	welterweight
147 pounds	June 9, 2012	Timothy Bradley	?	welterweight

Pacman under control Another aspect of Pacquiao that has undergone a sea change is his in-ring repertoire, something that is a testament to the skills of his trainer, Freddie Roach. According to boxing analyst Philip Juico, who used to promote a young Pacquiao, the future champ was in his early days a "wild man," describing him as a boxer "na walang depensa, sugod lang nang sugod, and his defense was a good offense." "Volume punching talaga," Juico said on News To Go. "He just threw as many as 70-80 punches a round, and working on the odds [that] dalawa o tatlo doon kapag tumama ay sapul ka." But Roach, who enters boxing's Hall of Fame on Sunday (Monday, PHL time), changed all that. Roach, who met Pacquiao in 2001 when he was a relative unknown, has said that the two possessed an immediate connection, with Roach saying in an interview that he "didn't miss a beat on the mitts. It was like I knew him [Pacquiao] his whole life. He couldn't even speak English back then." According to Juico, Roach "put in a lot of defense, put in a lot of technique and skill," which is a major reason Pacquiao is now a lofty 54-3-2 in his professional career, with 38 knockouts. Pacquiao's next stage? Despite the talk about Pacquiao retiring, Juico doesn't think Pacquiao needs to step down any time soon."Right now I don't see any difference [from before]," Juico said. "He is still as strong as before. The same hand speed, still the same foot speed, magaling pa rin at malakas. "In fact, mas lalo pa ngang lumakas si Manny, the way he trains, parang he is a mad man." But Juico is no fool, and is aware that anything can happen in the ring. "You'll never know. Both of them have two hands, have trained hard, both want to win badly." When pressed for a prediction, he's still going with the guy he saw evolve into a Filipino hero. "My prediction is Manny will win by knockout, by [the] sixth or seventh round." - AMD/HS, GMA News