By Al S. Mendoza
All Write

MANNY Pacquiao scoring a first-round knockout victory on his 23rd fight (Dec. 6, 1997) was quickly followed by a yet similar knockout win.

That was on May 18, 1998, when Pacquiao stopped Japanese Shin Terao in Round 1 in Tokyo for the WBC flyweight crown, giving Pacman his first world title following his OPBF conquest five months back.

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But after only three title defenses in one year, all by knockout, Pacquiao would terribly downslide to the consternation of a fan base that was starting to swell.

Some said success had gone to his head, leading to a devil-may-care attitude that would result in a bloated and, therefore, sluggish body.

On Sept. 17, 1999, Pacquiao, reporting overweight for a title fight to lose his crown, was knocked out in the third round by Thai Medgoen Singsurat in Thailand in a WBC international super bantamweight title fight.

Perhaps humbled and despised by even some of his most loyal followers, he would not fight again until three months later.

But when he came back on Dec. 18, 1999, he was a changed man.

He promptly gave himself a birthday present (he turned 21 the day before) by stopping Reynante Jamili in the second round to regain the WBC international super bantamweight crown.

He would pile up five more knockout victories in as many fights before pocketing his second official world crown.

Fighting as a mere substitute challenger, Pacquiao shocked the world once more when he knocked out African Lehlohonolo Ledwaba (33-1-1) for the world bantamweight title.

It came in the sixth round in Las Vegas, the so-called City of Sin which would quickly become the scene of Pacquiao’s numerous triumphs, many of them so electrifying and as spectacular as any boxer can ever dream of.

After the Ledwaba fight to officially delete the second glitch of his life two years before, Pacquiao would proceed to capture six world titles in six weight categories and etch himself a niche as one of the all-time greats in boxing history.

Indeed, it’s not in the rising but in the falling.

There is no adage more apt to describe the Pacquiao Phenom than that.