Like Sugar Ray Leonard, Manny Pacquiao bullies foes before fight -- Examiner.com

By Michael Marley, Examiner.com

Is Manny Pacquiao a boxing bully with his demands, both quickly acquiesced to by first Miguel Cotto and now Antonio Margarito, for a catch weight requirement to fight the Pinoy Idol?

Now that he's fully installed and acting as the Congressmanny from poverty stricken but scenic Sarangani, you might say that it is legislative privilege for Pacman to extra such weight concessions from opponents.

Or you might analyze it as yet another example of the rich and powerful lording it over the relatively weak and economically deprived.

I see all viewpoints, really, and there is no denying that, as the world's most popular fighter (Floyd Mayweather being the most notorious), Pacquiao and his cohorts are simply exercising the Golden Rule in getting the disgraced Mexican fighter to agree to a 150 pound weight limit.

I should add that is four pounds less than the limit for the vacant WBC super welterweight crown they will be contesting in Las Vegas or Monterrey, Mexico.

It should not be overlooked that, with a weigh in at 4 pm on a Friday and then a bout Saturday night at about 8 pm, “Margocheato” will have ample opportunity to bulk up and figures to enter the ring massively outsizing Pacquiao.

Margarito enjoys a nearly six inch height advantage and has a five inch reach edge over the betting favorite from General Santos City. I figure the Robert Garcia-trained Margarito to go into the ring weighing close to 160 pounds, thus making him a middleweight and a tall, muscular middleweight to boot.

If anyone can smile at Pacy's demands, it would be my old friend Sugar Ray Leonard.

Born Ray Charles Leonard, this American ring hero has already predicted that Pacman will win this bout and added that he like, the rest of us, is savoring a Manny-Floyd confrontation.

But it was Leonard and his cagey lawyer/de facto manager Mike Trainer who wrote the book on using the Golden Rule—meaning he who brings the gold makes the rules—to put foes at various disadvantages.

Classic example of that was when wrestling impresario Vince McMahon Jr. tried his hand at boxing promotion.

“Mr. McMahon” cut a deal with the Leonard camp for a PPV bout at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in one of the many Leonard comeback bouts.

The handpicked opponent was, quite literally, a fair-haired Canadian boy named Donny Lalonde.

Adroitly managed by author-boxing guy Dave Wolf, Lalonde's record was built on bums of all descriptions.

In fact, back when ESPN voice Teddy Atlas trained him, a no hoper foe did not show up for a bout off TV in Kentucky.

Thinking quickly, the wily Wolf substituted a Lalonde pal, who had never had a single amateur or pro bout, as the new opponent. Needless to say, Lalonde was compassionate, stopping his bosom buddy in one round.

It really happened and the proof is in Lalonde's record on Boxrec.

This was Aug. 12, 1986, at the Ashland Armory and Frank "Candy Man" Walters, with zero ring time on his resume, was also outweighed 10 pounds by Lalonde.

Lalonde's pal ring career began and ended with that single round or portion thereof. This was the emergency beginning and end of the Minot, South Dakota, guy's career.

Let's not say this "fight" was fixed, let's be nice and say it was "prearranged."

It wasn't Atlas' idea, he didn't like it but he went along with the program.

Atlas would later split with Wolf and Lalonde and was not in the Winnipeg Bomber's corner or in his pocket (Lalonde earned $5 millon) when he fought superstar Leonard.

A disgruntled Atlas told me, and I quoted him in The New York Post, that manager and fighter phonies and cited their respective coiffures.

At the time, Wolf wore an awful hairpiece while Lalonde was a shimmering blond.

Only Donny's hairdresser knew for sure but you didn't have to be a carpet expert to see that Wolf was wearing a rug.

“One dyes it and the other one buys it,” Atlas chortled.

But I digress as is so customary in this column.

Lalonde seemed to be a perfect patsy for Leonard especially after he won the WBA light heavyweight title by knocking out New Yorker Eddie Davis in Trinidad.

The stage was set for Leonard to add not one but two weight class crowns to his collection.

But Lalonde may not have read the script because he almost ruined the party.

One thing the Leonard camp glossed over was that Lalonde, a fitness and nutrition freak, packed a hure punch which could make you lose your lunch.

I know, I was there at ringisde.

Next: Blond Bomber Lalonde Shocks The World.

(mlcmarley@aol.com)

Source: examiner.com