INQUIRER Sports

One of the many things blotted out by the glare of Manny Pacquiao’s smashing conquest of Ricky Hatton is the blurring of the lines that define boxing’s terminologies nowadays.

Post-fight interviews with the current pound-for-pound champ have repeatedly quoted him as saying that because of his “left hook,” which knocked Hatton out cold in the fading seconds of the second round of their May 2 clash in Las Vegas, he is now part of boxing history as a “six-division champion.”

Nothing wrong there, except that there was a time when a southpaw never had a left hook in his arsenal. “From that stance, it takes a long time for a left hook to reach its target,” said noted fight analyst Ronnie Nathanielsz.

So was it a left hook or not? And was the fight ended by a knockout or a technical knockout?

More importantly, where does Pacquiao now stand on the list of multiweight champions? Alongside Oscar De La Hoya as a six-division champion? Or the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr., “Sugar” Ray Leonard and Tommy “The [original] Hitman” Hearns as five-division kings?

Technically correct

Popular ring announcer Michael Buffer, at the end of the fight, declared Pacquiao winner by technical knockout and he was technically correct. Referee Kenny Bayless didn’t administer the 10-count on the unconscious Hatton.

A technical knockout (TKO) is defined in dictionaries as “when a referee stops a bout because he deems the other fighter unable to continue,” either because of a clash of heads or if a fighter is rendered helpless by a powerful barrage coming from his opponent.

When a referee stops the contest without administering a 10-count, that is also a TKO.

The Inquirer headlined Pacquiao’s victory as a TKO, the same thing that the popular sports website ESPN and the online version of USA Today did. But writers of both media outlets referred to the victory as a knockout.

“Bayless could have counted to a hundred and Hatton would not have gotten up,” Nathanielsz explained. “So, to me, it is a knockout.”

Looping left? Straight left?

Kevin Iole of Yahoo sports and Dan Rafael of ESPN called the victory a knockout (KO). The Associated Press referred to it as a knockout, as did renowned trainer Teddy Atlas in his post-fight analysis.

The crushing force with which Pacquiao delivered the killer punch may have influenced their terminology because a TKO—having many variants—often lacks the sheen and visual power of a KO.

Incidentally, several writers have different opinions of the devastating blow Pacquiao landed.

Rafael refers to it as a left cross. Iole plays it safe by simply using left hand, but attaching superlatives to it. AP tags it as a left cross. AFP also plays it safe with left hand.

Reuters sides with Pacquiao and calls it a left hook. USA Today labels it a looping left, while the trainer Atlas refers to it as a straight left.

While Pacquiao’s signature punch indeed is a left straight, the killer blow wasn’t as straight as the one that floored Hatton toward the end of the first round.

“It looked more like a cross, but I’d go with looping left,” Nathanielsz said.

Ultimate confusion

And now for the ultimate discrepancy: Five-division or six-division champ?

“It depends greatly upon who you talk to and what you consider a legitimate world title whether Pacquiao (is) a four-division champion or a six-division champion,” Iole wrote for Yahoo Sports on the eve of the match.

Philippine journalists count Pacquiao as a five-division champ, having won the WBC (World Boxing Council) flyweight title, the IBF (International Boxing Federation) super bantamweight title, the WBC super feather weight crown and the WBC lightweight title before claiming Hatton’s lightly regarded IBO (International Boxing Organization) belt.

But writers on the other side of the Pacific count Pacquiao’s demolition of Mexican Marco Antonio Barrera in 2003 as a world title fight because the “Baby-faced Assassin” was then recognized as a “lineal champion.” Or, as Rafael describes: “The man who beat the man, who beat the man, who beat the man, etc.”

“Barrera was still the recognized champion when he fought Pacquiao then and, in fact, was the Ring Magazine featherweight champion of the world because he was never dethroned,” Nathanielsz explained. “He simply ‘discarded’ his title.”

Phenomenal achievement

For Nathanielsz, Pacquiao is a six-division champion. Among those who agree: Dan Rafael, Kevin Iole, HBO, ESPN, AP and Agence France-Presse. Ring Magazine counts Pacquiao as a six-division champion.

Journalists from the Western hemisphere who count the Ring Magazine featherweight title as one of Pacquiao’s crowns, make the Filipino superstar a six-division champ, not because he won Hatton’s IBO belt but because he also claimed the Briton’s Ring Magazine light welterweight crown.

Regardless of how one views Pacquiao’s triumph over Hatton in their IBO clash (the IBO isn’t one of the “big four” sanctioning bodies, which are the WBC, the IBF, the World Boxing Association and the World Boxing Organization), it hardly seems to matter to those who know the sport.

Iole quotes five-time champion Leonard as saying that Pacquiao’s win over Hatton is “a phenomenal achievement.”

“It’s an amazing, amazing accomplishment and I don’t think people truly grasp how difficult that is to do,” Leonard told Iole.

What matters most

Noted boxing historian Bert Sugar agrees.

“It’s not only difficult to leapfrog these many weight classes,” Sugar told ESPN. “I make (Pacquiao) out to be the greatest Asian fighter of all time and conceivably one of the greatest fighters of all time.”

KO, TKO, left hook, left straight, looping left, left cross, five-division champion, six-division champion—it hardly matters what’s what. Amid the confusion over terms and titles, there is one question that Pacquiao answered in sending yet another marquee fighter into possible retirement.

He is among the greatest fighters of all time and his greatness transcends not just the Asian race but the sport of boxing, too.

Transcends across all sports

“Manny Pacquiao is the best man out there in boxing,” New York Giants’ Super Bowl-winning running back Brandon Jacobs told Yahoo Sports. “I can’t think of a single athlete there who would not give him their total respect. Power comes in many forms, especially in my sport, but when you see it coming from a man who weighs 140 pounds it is an incredible thing to behold.

“This guy is an artist at what he does. He is the best pound-for-pound boxer and his ability transcends across all sports.

“He has to be one of the best athletes in the world.”