The guy made himself one-of-a-kind when he jumped from middleweight all the way up to heavyweight, collecting titles at every stop. No other fighter, living or dead, has done that since 1897, when England's Bob Fitzsimmons crossed the imaginary boxing divide. At that time, there was only one world boxing champion (always a heavyweight, ie, until Fitzsimmons came along), and there were only two weight divisions (the heavyweight and the "lighter weight," which comprised all other weights under heavyweight). Fitzsimmons was in the lighter weight division when he defeated the then current world champion to become the new world boxing champion.

Jones weighed 193 pounds (up from 175 pounds in his previous bout 6 months earlier), when he snatched part of the heavyweight diadem from John Ruiz on March 1, 2003. He gave away 33 pounds to Ruiz, who weighed 226 pounds. But the disparity in weight hardly showed as Jones cruised to a 12-round unanimous decision over Ruiz.

Jones was proud of his work. He said during the post-fight interview: "I know what people are going to say, but there is nothing wrong with John Ruiz. Like a lot of other guys I fought, he was just slower than me. And I kind of out thought him."

Indeed, most guys he fought looked like POWs (persons with disabilities, no disrespect intended to them) in comparison to him. The phenomenal Jones earned the "Fighter of the Decade" award from the Boxing Writers Association of America for his sterling ring performance in the late 80s until the early 2000s. A quick look at what he accomplished, so far: a solitary loss (which should have been a win, in the first place) in 50 fights, all but 9 of them coming by way of either knock out or technical knock out.

That loss came on March 21, 1997 in a light heavyweight title bout against Montell Griffin. Jones knocked Griffin down in the 7th round of that fight. In the 9th, Jones had Griffin in even more dire situation. A wicked right-sleek as an arrow and precise as a missile-put Griffin down on one knee, ready to roll over like an uprooted gmelina. But Jones could not hold back his excitement; he hit Griffin two more times. It was a clear and obvious foul. Referee Tony Perez had no other option but to disqualify him and gave the fight to Griffin. Jones led on the scorecards of two judges-77-75 (Chuck Hasset) and 76-75 (Terry Smith)-when the fight was stopped.

Jones quickly removed that blight on his resume, however. He avenged that loss to Griffin in a rematch 5 months later, on August 17, 1997, with three-possibly 5-exclamation marks. He knocked the guy out in the first round.

Jones was no stranger to strange fight outcomes. He was one of the boxers sent by the US to the 1988 Seoul Olympics after topping the Olympic trials for the light heavyweight division. After getting through the qualifying rounds, he met local bet Park Si-Hun in the finals for the light middleweight gold. He dominated Park all throughout their bout, but ended up losing by a 2-3 decision.

One judge later admitted that in his view Jones clearly won. He voted for Park, nonetheless, because he was sure his fellow judges would vote for Jones, and he didn't want the host country's boxer to be embarrassed by losing a 5-0 decision. Interestingly, organizers awarded him the Val Barker Trophy, which is reserved for boxers whose performance in the Games had been found above the norm.

At the pro ranks, his superiority over the competition has been as telling. He has ruled 4 divisions-middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight-one at a time, in his 21 (still active) years as boxer.

Jones is a man of many talents. Aside from boxing, he dabbles as a businessman, a basketball player, a recording artist, a music manager, an actor, etc.

Excerpts from "Who Can Stop The Pacman?" in the book "Manny Pacquiao - The Greatest Boxer Of All Time." See more of it at http://pacquiaodgoat.ws

Hermilando "Ingming" Duque Aberia is a social development worker by training and profession. He has worked for close to 23 years for government and non-government agencies in the Philippines. He has a master's degree in Development Management from the Asian Institute of Management. Writing for him is both a hobby and a drain for emotional overflow. He writes on various subjects and has published some of his works in Philippine newspapers.

He has also dabbled in online advocacy and home-based marketing. He maintains a website at http://pacquiaodgoat.ws. Emails can be sent to: pacquiadgoat@gmail.com

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