Pacquiao Watch: His source of power and speed

Edwin Espejo
Location: General Santos City, Philippines

With a couple or so of fights left before Manny Pacquiao decides to retire from boxing and pursue a political career that cannot seem to take off smoothly, many are still awed and amazed by his blinding speed and the explosiveness of his punches.

Four years ago, I was interviewed by ESPN Star Sports asking me what makes Pacquiao such a beast in the ring? Star Sports was then doing a multi-episode special on 12 athletes who excel in their chosen sports discipline. Pacquiao, of course, was for boxing.

I was also asked whether Pacquiao will qualify as one of boxing’s all time greats?

Pacquiao was then a year or so removed from his spectacular conquest of Mexican featherweight champion Marco Antonio Barrera.

Back then, I said Pacquiao’s greatness and niche in the world of boxing will be measured long after he leaves the sports. And a body of work (read victories) has to be accumulated and ranged against boxers who earned their places in the elite circle of boxing greats.

I may have spoken too early. Pacquiao has not only trailblazed his way to superstardom. He is now considered by many as among the greatest of all time.

I say if Manny wins over Puerto Rico’s Miguel Angel Cotto and annexes his seventh world title in as many weight classes he should be considered as one the top five boxers of all time, all weights and eras considered.

But before we go too far, let’s get back to what this piece is all about.

Manny doesn't draw his strength from his fists, left or right. In fact, his punches are a shade or two ‘lighter’, pound for pound, when ranged against all time knockout artists who go by the names like Tyson, Foreman, Durans and Hearn.

Manny’s real strength is drawn from his lower body - from the waist down to his pivot foot. Manny owns some of the biggest calves in boxing, measuring 15 inches.

Sure, a lot of boxers have bigger calves than Manny, especially sluggers from Thailand and Afro-American boxers in the heavier divisions.

Although muscle bound, his calves are as spectacularly spry as the sinewy lower limbs of Sugar Ray Leonard or Muhammad Ali, two of boxing’s most accomplished footwork masters.

But while both Leonard and Ali use their footwork to evade and run circles against their opponents, Manny uses them as/and to pivot and to derive power from where he launches his punches.

I watched a recent special on Discovery Channel and was impressed in how the show dissected the power of martial art experts. Without secure footing, no matter how heavy handed you are, you are not going to knockout your opponent with a single punch all the time. Those calves also enable Manny to maintain a frenetic pace through all 12 rounds if needed.

You can be winded, but without the strength in your legs and calves you will be sitting duck against opponents who know how to use the ring to their advantage.

The legs and calves of Manny are surprisingly dexterous. He can pivot with his left foot to go either to his right or left and can spring forward and back with amazing ease.

Those power legs and calves allow Manny to throw punches at different angles which, being a southpaw, compounds his tactical and positional advantage against opponents.

He is the epitome of boxing’s time-honored adage of 'SPEED KILLS'.

Source: http://asiancorrespondent.com/edwin-espejo/pacquiao-watch:-his-source-of-power.htm