Top 5 moments in Manny Pacquiao’s career

When you have careers that are as illustrious as Manny Pacquiao’s and Floyd Mayweather’s, it’s almost impossible to boil down their greatest moments to just five.

Both fighters will tell you every fight they participated in was important. And of course, boxing fans love to argue what were the highlights of any fighter’s career.

The 36-year-old Pacquiao has had a lot of special nights in the ring.

Here are five of his more memorable moments:

Stopping the Golden Boy (2008) — Pacquiao was still fighting at 135 pounds when he agreed to face future Hall of Famer Oscar De La Hoya at the MGM Grand on Dec. 6. He was jumping two weight classes to 147 pounds in order to meet the Golden Boy. And while everyone thought Pacquiao was in too deep, he believed he could win.

He dominated De La Hoya from the beginning, using his speed and punching power to get De La Hoya on the defensive. He had De La Hoya badly hurt in the seventh round. After the eighth, De La Hoya had had enough. The technical knockout victory is among Pacquiao’s most satisfying and the fact De La Hoya retired afterward made it even more special.

The Marquez Series (2004-2012) — Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez faced each other four times over a nine-year span with Pacquiao holding a 2-1-1 edge over the Mexican superstar. Their first meeting in 2004 ended in a draw. The rematch in 2008 saw Pacquiao win a split decision. Three years later, Pacquiao narrowly won again, this time by majority decision.

Finally, in 2012, Marquez caught Pacquiao with a huge right hand late in the sixth round and knocked him out. Pacquiao nearly stopped Marquez the round before but Marquez survived and when Pacquiao got careless late in the sixth, Marquez made him pay. The knockout, coming after a controversial split-decision defeat to Timothy Bradley in June, was the only time Pacquiao has suffered consecutive losses in his pro career.

The Morales Trilogy (2005-2006) — Pacquiao had another Mexican rival — Erik Morales — during the first decade of the 21st century. And like Marquez, Morales had managed to defeat Pacquiao once. That came in their first meeting in 2005 when Morales won a close 12-round unanimous decision to become the WBC super featherweight champion.

But Pacquiao got a rematch 10 months later and he knocked Morales down twice in the 10th round and eventually, he won by TKO. Their rubber match that November saw Pacquiao dominate Morales from the start and knock him down in the second round and twice more in the third. Morales was unable to beat the count after the second knockdown and Pacquiao had his revenge in full.

Texas-sized mauling (2010) — Antonio Margarito, a junior middleweight, believed he would demolish the Filipino superstar in Cowboys Stadium on Nov. 13. He and his camp made fun of Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, who has Parkinson’s disease. And while Pacquiao didn’t say anything before the first bell, it was evident he was full of anger and rage.

He went right after Margarito, using his superior hand speed to get off first and frustrate the Mexican. The fact Pacquiao was fighting at 154 pounds for the first time only added to the impressiveness of his performance against a much larger opponent. He administered a savage beating to Margarito that night, so bad that Margarito had to go to the hospital after the fight with a broken orbital bone in his right eye. He was never the same fighter again.

The U.K. is KO’d (2009) — Ricky Hatton, the pride of Manchester, England, was expected to put Pacquiao in his place. For added drama, Hatton had Floyd Mayweather Sr. training him. Mayweather and Roach detest each other and Roach wanted Pacquiao to give a statement performance.

He did. Pacquiao knocked Hatton down twice in the first round. Then he landed his signature left hook flush to Hatton’s chin late in the second round, knocking the Englishman out cold and quieting Hatton’s thousands of singing, chanting supporters who had made the long trip over to Las Vegas from the U.K. only to see their man get counted out.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj