Manny Pacquiao (born 1978) is a boxing icon in the Philippines. At the end of 2024, the news that Manny Pacquiao would be officially inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in June 2025 made many fans happy.
This is a prestigious award given to those who have made special contributions to the sport.
Pacquiao is the only boxer in history to win championships in eight different weight classes, from flyweight to super welterweight. Pacquiao began his career in 1995 and fought through 2021, with 72 fights. He won 62 of them, 39 by knockout.
Pacquiao's notable victories were over world-class boxers such as Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Cotto and Oscar De La Hoya. Few people know that to become an excellent boxer, Pacquiao learned from Bruce Lee.
The American New York Times once revealed that Manny Pacquiao learned Bruce Lee's style to apply to boxing.
Manny Pacquiao learned from Bruce Lee
How did Manny Pacquiao learn from Bruce Lee?
“ Manny Pacquiao's boxing talent is tied to his Riverdance-like legs, grapefruit-sized calves, and impressive torso strength.
Manny Pacquiao's movements are unconventional, seemingly designed by a jazz musician, always surprising and relentless.
He creates unique angles, appears and disappears, moves, strikes; sometimes balanced, sometimes not, even with just one leg. It is the style—part performance art, part technical brilliance—that has characterized Pacquiao, considered the greatest boxer of his generation. And it all started with a videotape of his idol, Bruce Lee, ” wrote the New York Times .
Manny Pacquiao himself admitted that his style is: “Like Bruce Lee”. When he was a child in the Philippines, Pacquiao used to watch Bruce Lee movies over and over again without getting bored. Pacquiao’s favorite Bruce Lee movie is “Enter the Dragon” (1973).
Fitness coach Alex Ariza, who has worked with Pacquiao, believes the Filipino boxer's basic movements were inspired by Bruce Lee's relentless attacking style: his feet rhythmically moving back and forth to the music.
“Bruce Lee was jumping, kicking his legs, shaking his head and shoulders,” Ariza said. “His legs were coordinated with his arms. It might look disjointed, but there was a rhythm. Manny is the same. His movements come from that,” Ariza asserted.
By learning from Bruce Lee, Pacquiao has created a “powerful weapon” in boxing matches. Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s coach, once commented on the Filipino boxer: “When Pacquiao moves, his movement technique is so precise that it creates angles and helps him win all the matches.”
The constant movement makes Pacquiao an unpredictable fighter in the ring. This disrupts the rhythm of his opponents, forcing them to take risks.
Coach Joe Goossen, meanwhile, has a completely different view, but admits that Pacquiao's movement is very effective: “It's an unpolished athletic style, but it's very attractive and unique. It's not a continuous flow of beauty. It can be awkward movements, it can be rough, purposeful, unorthodox. But it works."
The fearsome power of Pacquiao
As Pacquiao continued to move up the weight classes, Coach Roach worried about how quickly Pacquiao might lose speed, but he was amazed. In all his years, Roach had never seen a fighter gain weight and still maintain the speed and power that Pacquiao did.
Meanwhile, fitness coach Ariza pointed out other factors that help Pacquiao maintain his formidable speed and power, which are diet, isometric exercises to create balance, and plyometric exercises to increase explosive power.
“Pacquiao is a freak ,” Ariza said. “His resting heart rate in the morning is 42 beats per minute. If Pacquiao did half the work he’s doing, he’d still be at the same level,” Ariza continued.
Manny Pacquiao defeated Antonio Margarito in 2010
In a 2010 fight, Pacquiao faced Antonio Margarito as a light middleweight. When Margarito's trainer, Robert Garcia, reviewed videos of Pacquiao, he saw that he was a fighter who rushed forward too much and exposed his weaknesses. Garcia directed Margarito to attack Pacquiao's body, but the fighter couldn't keep up and lost vision in one eye from Pacquiao's strikes.
“No matter what plan we had for Pacquiao, he just destroyed it,” said coach Robert Garcia, helplessly. “What looks possible in the video is not. Nobody fights like Pacuqiao, he looks clumsy but he is fast, strong, fast, has good reflexes, nobody is perfect like that.”
When Ariza looked at the boxing world, he saw many fighters trying to imitate Pacquiao. They jumped and moved like Pacquiao but were not as effective, powerful, creative or balanced as the Filipino. Pacquiao had a style that many tried to copy but no one could replicate.
Ariza has long wanted to test Pacquiao for scientific reasons, such as lung capacity, red blood cell count, and endurance. He could publish his results in a scientific journal. But Pacquiao has not wanted to do that. Part of Pacquiao’s talent remains a mystery and will always remain so. “Bruce Lee was like that,” Ariza admitted.
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/hoc-hoi-ly-tieu-long-pacquiao-tro-thanh-huyen-thoai-boxing-the-gioi-ar919099.html
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