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Manny "PACMAN" Pacquiao "The Legend"

Filipino ring idol and national treasure Manny Pacquiao cemented his place among the legends of boxing with a spectacular ninth round knockout over Mexican-American David Diaz before Pacquiao’s wildly cheering countrymen at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao, who has been described by boxing writers as the “Mexecutioner” because of his demolition of Mexican legends Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik “El Terrible Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez and battered pretenders like undefeated Jorge Solis, Hector Velasquez, Emmanuel Lucero and Gabriel Mira, lived up to his billing by an execution-style annihilation of the game but utterly outclassed Diaz.

A crowd of 8,326 watched Pacquiao fulfill his quest to re-write history by becoming the first Filipino and indeed the first Asian to win four world titles, not counting the Ring Magazine featherweight championship which he won when he mauled Marco Antonio Barrera into submission in 11 rounds in November 2003 at the Alamadome in Texas, home of the San Antonio Spurs..

This time around it was the NBA champions Boston Celtics who were at special ringside to cheer Pacquiao who had invited them to watch the fight. Pacquiao endeared himself to the Celtics when, despite training in Los Angeles, he picked the Celtics as his favorite team to beat the Lakers and when they did their admiration for one another was strengthened even further.

Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen went into Pacquiao’s crowded dressing room after the fight to congratulate the No.1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world who put on a display that overwhelmingly justified his Ring Magazine choice. Even if Floyd Mayweather Jr. hadn’t retired, editor-in-chief Nigel Collins would have had a hard time not recognizing Pacquiao as No.1 based on his near flawless performance against Diaz.

Pacquiao, who plays basketball with almost the same passion as he displays in the ring, said he was “so happy to see my idols, the Boston Celtics.”

Despite moving up to 135 pounds, Pacquiao’s speed didn’t seem to diminish at all, especially against a much slower Diaz, who himself admitted he didn’t see the cracking left hook that dropped him face down in the ninth round after Pacquiao set him up with a stinging right straight.

It was as clinical an execution fight fans could ever witness and it began from the opening bell when Pacquiao exploded with vicious combinations that accentuated his speed. Pacquiao, whose skills have been honed to perfection by celebrated trainer Freddie Roach, showed exemplary footwork, new-found weapons in the hook and the uppercut and a stinging right straight that went with his devastating left.

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