After his controversial win against Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez. Until this time the Filipino boxing icon Manny “pacman” Pacquiao criticized by some of the boxing personalities. Mark Johnson joins with the Pacman’s critics.
Hall-of-Fame fighter Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson criticized Filipino boxing icon Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao for choosing to fight boxers who are past their primes.
Johnson, a two-division champion who was the first African-American boxer to win a flyweight title, told RingTV.com that there is “no comparison” between himself and Pacquiao.
“Let me tell you something. Like I said before, nobody called me out. I called them out,” Johnson said. “So, I didn’t fight no dead men. I didn’t have to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes.”
Johnson said Shane Mosley, Oscar de la Hoya and Antonio Margarito were “already dead” or past their primes when Pacquiao fought them. The Filipino boxer defeated de la Hoya via a technical knockout, and earned unanimous decision victories over Mosley and Margarito.
“Everybody I fought was alive,” Johnson said.
He also criticized Pacquiao for his performance in his most recent fight against Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez. Although he won a majority decision, Pacquiao struggled in that fight, with many believing that Marquez is the rightful winner of the bout.
“When Pacquiao finally fought Juan Manuel Marquez again, it was a guy that was 40% dead,” Johnson said. “And the guy controlled the whole fight, the guy controlled the pace of the fight.”
Johnson added that when he was a fighter, “I controlled all of my fights.”
Johnson retired in February 2006 with a record of 44 wins and 5 losses, with 28 knockouts. He was among the pound-for-pound best boxers in his time, ranking as high as number 3.
He was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame this week, along with Thomas Hearns, Michael Buffer, Al Bernstein, and Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach.
