Year 2011 saw eight-divi­sion champion Manny Pac­quiao celebrated his 16th year as a prizefighter with contrasting victories over separate opponents. As his projected multi­million dollar mega-show­down with undefeated American Floyd Mayweath­er remained hanging in the air, Pacquiao, w ho turned 33 last Dec. 11, had to set­tle for three-division cham­pion Sugar Shane Mosley and Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez in a pair of bouts both held at the MGM Grand in the gambling city of Las Vegas. The twin con­frontations were the 58th and 59th for the Fili­pino since Pac­quiao started his professional career on Jan. Jan. 22, 1995 with a four-round unani­mous decision victory over Enting Ignacio in Mindoro Oc­cidental. The fighting congressman from Saran­gani marched triumphantly over Mosley via a unani­mous decision last May but was forced to the limit by Marquez by a majority verdict last November that left even his rabid fans un­happy.

Up to this day, many still believed the fight could have been a draw or Mar­quez, the world lightweight titleholder, should have dethroned Pacquiao as the World Boxing Organization welterweight kingpin. The double kill raised the Filipino icon’s win­loss-draw record to 54-3-2 with 38 knockouts. Two of his three losses came via knockouts – against Rusti­co Torrecampo a year after he debuted as a pro in 1996 and against Thai Medgoen Singsurat, who took his World Boxing Council fly­weight crown in 1999.

His only other defeat came in hands of Mexican Erik Morales in 2005. Pac­quiao more than made up for this by stopping his tor­mentor twice the next two times they squared off in 2006. That 2005 drawback to Morales was his last as he followed that up with 15 straight victories, including eight KOs on the way to becoming the only man on earth to hold eight belts in as many weight divisions.

Victories over Mosley and Marquez, earned for Pacquiao a total guaran­teed purse of $42 million, making him the highest paid athlete in 2011, a distinction he shared with Major League Baseball campaigner Alex Rodriguez of the new York Yankees a year before.

The fight with Mosley generated 1.34 million pay-per-view buys. A slight increase to 1.4 in his third encounter with Marquez marked the fourth straight year that a Pacquiao fight pulled at least a million ppv hits since 2008 when he stopped Oscar de la Hoya to register 1.25 mil­lion cable buys.

It was the first year that Pacquiao batted 100 per­cent in accounting at least a million pay-per-view hits in his outings. Besides extending his hold of the 147-pound belt, Pacquiao, likewise, kept his no. 1 spot in the Ring Magazine’s best pound­for-pound fighters list de­spite howl of protests from some sectors including that of Mayweather. Mayweather toppled him though from that position in several honor-bestowing bodies on the strength of his unimpressive showing against Marquez

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