Pacquiao’s style takes inspiration from Bruce Lee
More than one one MMA magazine have profiles that include the question “Who is most influential on your fighting style?”…
More than one one MMA magazine have profiles that include the question “Who is most influential on your fighting style?” The most common answer is Bruce Lee, a figure many consider a seminal figure in what eventually became Mixed Martial Arts. Below, boxing great Manny pacquiao reveals that he too feels most influenced by Bruce Lee.
The boxing genius of Manny Pacquiao includes feet that belong in Riverdance, calves the size of grapefruits and deceptive power generated from his core. His movement is unorthodox, scattered and perpetual, as if designed by a jazz musician. He creates angles unlike any other fighter, past or present, appearing, disappearing, shifting, striking; on balance, off balance, even off one foot.
It is this style — part performance art, part technical wizardry, unique to Pacquiao— that defines perhaps the best boxer of his generation. And it started with a videotape of the martial artist who became his idol. It started with Bruce Lee.
Last month, as Pacquiao molded his style specific to Shane Mosley, his welterweight opponent on Saturday in Las Vegas, he wrapped his hands inside the dressing room at the Wild Card boxing gym here. To explain the way he fights, he settled on three words.
Like Bruce Lee, he said.
Growing up in the Philippines, Pacquiao studied Lee, watching his movies on endless loops. He still often views his collector’s set. Enter the Dragon is his favorite. His conditioning coach, Alex Ariza, says he believes Pacquiao built his baseline movement off Lee’s template, the continual attacking, the feet drummed in and out.
Bruce Lee jumped around and kicked his feet and shook his head and shoulders, Ariza said. His feet moved in concert with his hands. He could be choppy, but he was rhythmic. Manny does the same thing. It comes from that.
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As Ariza surveys the boxing landscape, he sees fighters emulating Pacquiao, or trying to. They bounce like him, dance like him, shift like him. But they are not as efficient, powerful, creative or balanced. Pacquiao boasts a style that is often imitated, never replicated.
Ariza has long wanted to test Pacquiao for scientific purposes, for lung capacity, red blood cells, endurance. He could publish his findings in a scientific journal. But Pacquiao wants none of that. Part of his genius remains a mystery and always will.
Bruce Lee, Ariza said, was like that.