Manny Pacquiao Career Losses : Who Defeated the Legend?

Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao holds an impressive record of 62 wins, 7 losses, and 2 draws in his career. Over the years, he has shown extreme striking finesse, world-class movement, and exceptional defense inside the ring. Throughout his career, ‘the Pacman’ also became boxing’s only eight-division champion. However, the journey was not always smooth for the champ.

Manny Pacquiao has also faced few losses and trying times in his twenty-six years inside the ring.

Much like Canelo Alvarez, even Pacquiao started his professional boxing career at the age of fifteen in 1995, stepping into the ring with much older and experienced fighters set the base for his career. After securing eleven straight wins in just one year, the Filipino Senator suffered his first-ever loss in 1996. Through the course of his ongoing career, Pacquiao has suffered seven losses. Some of those losses being more controversial than others.

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Here are the seven boxers that made it past Manny Pacquiao:

Rustico Torrecampo- 1996

After dominating at light-flyweight for almost a year, Pacquiao made a jump to flyweight. Rustico Torrecampo was his first challenger in the new division. The catchweight bout was set at 111 lbs; however, the Filipino challenger weighed in a pound heavier.

As a penalty, Pacquiao had to wear 8-ounce gloves while his opponent wore 6-ounce gloves. Torrecampo, who only had 5 knockouts in his career, scored several significant strikes and knocked Pacquiao out thirty seconds into round 3.

Medgoen Singsurat- 1999

Pacquiao lifted himself back up after his first loss by going on a 15 fight win streak. Within this timeframe, he also won the WBC flyweight title by defeating defending champion Chatchai Sasakul. Pacquiao then subsequently faced Medgoen Singsurat in 1999 as his second title defense.

Even though he started off strong and seemed like the dominant fighter in the first two rounds, Singsurat stopped Pacquiao by TKO in the third round. The new champion defended his WBC belt two times before losing it to Malcolm Tunacao later.

Erik Morales- 2005

By this time, Pacquiao had made his way up to super featherweight and was already a two-division world champion. In 2005, Pacquiao was a known name in boxing while facing ‘El Terrible’ Erik Morales. After a twelve-round battle, Morales defeated Manny Pacquiao by unanimous decision. However, Pacquiao later defeated Morales in two subsequent rematches in 2006 via TKO and KO.

Timothy Bradley Jr- 2012

In 2009, Manny Pacquiao won the WBO world welterweight title against Miguel Cotto. Three years later, he lost against Timothy Bradley Jr in a title defense via split decision. The outcome of this fight had garnered backlash from fans and experts, as many felt that Pacquiao had won that fight. However, the Filipino legend defended himself against Bradley two more times in 2014 and 2016 and won via unanimous decision.

Juan Manuel Marquez- 2012

After losing to Pacquiao in 2011, Juan Manuel Marquez avenged his loss in spectacular fashion a year later. Many fans felt that the Filipino boxer failed to bring his usual finesse in this fight. Marquez secured a clean victory by knocking Manny Pacquiao out in round 6. Since then, Marquez has negated any chances of a rematch between the two.

Floyd Mayweather Jr- 2015

For years, fans awaited a mega-clash between these two legends of the sport. In 2015, Mayweather and Pacquiao agreed to a 12 round battle. This was a massive matchup and to date, it is still the highest-grossing fight and sold 4.6 million pay-per-views. Pacquiao fans were left disappointed as ‘Money’ did what he does best- accurate striking and top-notch defense. After 12 rounds of brutal action, judges scored a landslide win (116-112, 116-112, 118-110) in favor of Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather.

Jeff Horn- 2017

After Timothy Bradley, this was the second loss that faced backlash from Pacquiao’s fans. Australian Jeff Horn with a record of 20 wins and 3 losses won against Manny Pacquiao via unanimous decision. Many fans and boxing analysts argued that the judges’ scorecards were flawed because it seemed as if Pacquiao landed more shots per round. Horn delivered 15% of what the Filipino legend landed in every round.

Despite his seven losses, Manny Pacquiao has achieved impressive feats in the sport. Boxing purists believe his success inside the ring trumps all of his losses. To date, ‘The People’s Champ’ continues to inspire many in the boxing community.

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