World Boxing News looks at how boxing legend and eight-weight champion Manny Pacquiao managed to lose eight times.
The superb bundle of energy known as the ‘Pacman’ has a record of 62-8-2 and 39 KOs as a pro, with some of his defeats more controversial than others.
Turning to the paid ranks at the age of 16 years, one month, and five days in 1995, Pacquiao gained experience fighting grown men from the start. Much like the pound-for-pound star Canelo Alvarez, Pacquiao dipped his toes in with much older campaigners when still a teenager of school age.
At 18, things suddenly began to get very real for the young contender.
Manny Pacquiao’s losses
Defeat Number 1 – Rustico Torrecampo [February 9, 1996]
It was 1996, and Manny [11-0, 4 KOs at the time] took on the 24-year-old Torrecampo at flyweight. The move up came after fighting the previous thirteen months at light-flyweight.
The bout was organized at a catch weight of 111 lbs, although Pacquiao came in a pound over. He was subsequently penalized by being made to wear heavier gloves during the fight.
However, the strong favorite Pacquiao was stunned by Torrecampo with a devastating shot and knocked out – almost cold. The end came thirty seconds into the third round, and by a man with only five knockouts on his 11-4-4 record. It was an early wake-up call for Pacquiao’s career.
From then on, compatriot Torrecampo would only win two more fights in his career, losing four. He then retired in 1997 at 25 without any significant titles to his credit.
After almost 14 years out of the ring at 38 in February 2011, the flyweight made an unexpected comeback. Torrecampo knocked out Jovanie Bualan in three rounds. He hasn’t fought since.
2 – Medgoen Singsurat [September 17, 1999]
Pacquiao [26-1, 17 KOs] seemed to learn a lot from his first defeat as he embarked on a fifteen-fight unbeaten run. Thirteen of those came inside the distance.
He picked up the WBC flyweight title in the twelfth of those victories in 1998, beating champion Chatchai Sasaku with an eighth-round KO. Pacquiao then took on Singsurat in 1999 in what was his second defense at the age of 21.
Singsurat held an unblemished 18-0 record and was the same age as Manny, fighting for his first world title. Pacquiao was again knocked out in the third round, losing his world title within a year of claiming it. This scenario occurred despite dominating the opening rounds and looking a class above the Thai fighter.
He eventually made two successful defenses of the WBC title before succumbing to Malcolm Tunacao.
Singsurat fought 52 times since the Pacquaio victory, knocking out 37 opponents without ever returning to world-class. He went undefeated in his last eleven fights until retiring in 2011.
3 – Erik Morales [March 19, 2005]
In 2005, Pacquiao [39-2-2, 30 KOs] took on ‘El Terrible’ Erik Morales and was a two-weight world champion by this time. Pacquiao narrowly missed out on a third loss previously after drawing with Juan Manuel Marquez a year earlier. Facing Morales, he was now an established name in the USA.
Moving up a fourth weight class since turning pro, Pacquiao ran into a confident Morales at the height of his powers and lost a close unanimous decision in Las Vegas.
Pacquiao would avenge the defeat a year later by knocking out Morales in the tenth round of a pulsating contest at the Thomas and Mack Center. Before scoring a stunning second seven rounds earlier in the rubber match ten months later. Morales was the only one of his defeats that he would go on to reverse.
We all know plenty about Morales. The Mexican legend’s 2011 showing against Marcos Maidana at 34 was a fantastic display by a true ring legend. Sadly, the fights against Danny Garcia went a step too far in 2012.
4 – Timothy Bradley [June 9, 2012]
Pacquiao’s defeat to Bradley is well documented. It’s still annoying today that such travesties happen in the sport we love. But sadly, they still do, and this was undoubtedly one of the worst.
The split decision against Pacquiao was a shambles from the final bell onwards. The scoring continued to irk until Pacquiao gained his revenge, and then a rubber fight which never should have taken place. In a nutshell, Pacquiao won all three Bradley fights convincingly on the evidence of the trilogy.
Pacquiao [54-3-2, 38 KOs] won the initial fight 118-110 on the WBN scorecard after a scintillating display. However, a terrible decision robbed him, which was acknowledged by the vast majority of the boxing world’s media after the fight.
5 – Juan Manuel Marquez [December 8, 2012]
It’s entirely possible that the loss to Bradley had an exacting effect on the Marquez fight. Six months after the Bradley shocker in December 2012, Pacquiao’s mindset going into the fight undoubtedly wasn’t right. This was possibly down to the fact that he was disappointed in the judging and went for the knockout against Marquez.
This gung-ho attitude, brought on by an unfathomable decision, potentially made Pacquiao reckless in going for a Marquez KO. This ultimately meant he got caught with an almighty punch heard worldwide.
Following some bad decisions against Pacquiao, Marquez’s sixth-round victory was poetic justice. He then refused to give Pacquiao a chance to avenge.
6 – Floyd Mayweather [May 2, 2015]
There will always be sadness and looking back on this super-fight, knowing not only that the public was handed the contest years too late but also that Pacquiao stated he was injured during the bout.
We will never know what could have happened if they’d met in 2010. Floyd did what Floyd does and eased to a one-sided triumph in 2015. Despite the disappointment, ‘MayPac’ remains the highest-grossing fight of all time.
7 – Jeff Horn [July 2, 2017]
When you thought things couldn’t get worse than the Bradley fight, the Horn encounter tried its best to upstage it. The summer 2017 battle down under ended similarly to Bradley I.
Pacquiao dominated the fight only to be pickpocketed by the judges again. It’s conceivable Pacquiao should only have six losses on his record. However, there will always be arguments to the contrary, stating Pacquiao’s career has evened itself out.
8 – Yordenis Ugas [August 21, 2021]
Fighting in his forties and becoming the oldest welterweight champion ever in 2019, Pacquiao defended the crown against the rugged Cuban. Ugas was a late replacement after Errol Spence Jr. pulled out, leaving Pacquiao without a unification opportunity.
He couldn’t get up for the Ugas fight and lost again for the eighth time in his career.
A comeback remains on the cards in 2024 at 45 as Manny Pacquiao looks to create more history.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
