At the age of 30, Manny Pacquiao seems to have tried it all; boxing, singing, acting, politics, you name it, he’s most probably given it a good go. What’s more is he seems to have excelled in most of these things.

Anyone heading to MySpace can sample his singing skills – I certainly did and was pleasantly surprised considering the man punches people for a living. Pacquiao has also appeared in numerous commercials, and stars in a film set to be released in the near future; Wapakman. The flipside to this is that when Pacquiao attempted to dabble in politics he was slightly more unsuccessful; however, it does seem he plans to give it another shot after retirement. Of course, none of his successes off the ring could ever compare to his successes in the ring.

Pacquiao started his professional boxing career at 16, pushed into it by his dad. Not in the way you or I may have been pushed into sports by our fathers when younger. Pacquiao was not dragged to Sunday league matches unwillingly. Instead Pacquiao fled home after witnessing his dad kill and eat the family dog. Apparently severe poverty was not a good enough excuse for Pacquiao, and always the fussy eater as a child, fled to the streets of Manila where he joined a gym and survived buying and re-selling doughnuts, earning a pittance but at the same time discovering his calling in life: boxing.

Just over a week ago, Pacquiao humbled Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas to claim a world record seventh title belt in seven different weight classes. The sight was simply unbelievable. His speed and footwork are unlike anything I’ve ever seen and punches appear to bounce off him on a never ending basis. Suspicisions were raised before the fight as to whether Pacquiao could handle the power and intensity of his new weight class – some thought he would struggle and Cotto would retain his belt. They were wrong, and Pacquiao showed yet again why he is the undisputed pound of pound champion of world boxing.

Or is he? Don’t get me wrong, I’m in awe of the man. For someone to have experienced a childhood such as the one he experienced, found a way out of it through boxing, move up seven different weight classes and won titles in all of them, whilst beating household names such as Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya and Marco Antonio Barrera is simply outstanding. He outpaces and dominates nearly every opponent he faces. He is an utter genius. But in my opinion, he still has one more mountain to climb before he can claim to be the best boxer of his generation.

That mountain will prove to be his toughest yet. Flloyd Mayweather Jnr. He is Pacquiao’s Everest. When these two greats do eventually meet it will surely be the winner of the bout that will be crowned as the undisputed pound for pound boxer of their generation. If Pacquiao intends to cement his place in history as the greatest boxer of his generation he will face a tough task.

Can he do it? Of course, he can. He’s faster and more agile than Mayweather, as seems to be the case with all the opponents he faces. He showed just over a week ago that he can absorb and take punches, whilst dishing out some serious damage himself. However, Mayweather has goaded him in the press, claiming he is ‘one-dimensional’ and Mayweather clearly believes he is a smarter, well rounded fighter who will have no problem beating Pacquiao. Of course he needs to say that. But Mayweather has a point.

In my mind, Mayweather, as much as I loathe the guy, is possibly the smartest boxer of his generation. He provides opponents with very few flaws to take advantage of. His defence is outstanding and in attack he applies every punch in the book to dismantle and overwhelm the opposite corner. Whilst I claim that Pacquiao can certainly beat Mayweather, the case still remains that Mayweather could easily take Pacquiao apart.

Looking at the way both fighters humbled Hatton in their respective fights, they clearly have very different fighting styles. Pacquiao relies on his speed and footwork to scare opponents, and take advantage of their mistakes to land flurries of counter punches. This is why he beat Hatton so easily. Hatton neglected his defence more than Brazilian football coach Dunga does at training sessions. He aimed punches and missed, and Pacquiao was there to clean up.

Mayweather struggled more against Hatton in my opinion. He does not posses the speed that Pacquiao has so had to pick his punches carefully, and take a more defensive approach. He still beat Hatton, but it took him longer, and he looked to be in trouble a few times too. However, he had the IQ to dismantle Hatton round by round and, in fairness, introduced us to more of Hatton’s flaws than his own.

When Pacquiao and Mayweather do meet it will prove to be a fascinating encounter. Mayweather will not afford Pacquiao the usual flaws and openings most opponents offer him. His speedy flurries of punches may well go to waste against Mayweather’s defence. But I don’t think Pacquiao is quite as ‘one dimensional’ as Floyd Jnr. claims. Trainer Freddy Roach has helped Pacquiao to perfect his own defence and I saw how hard it was for Cotto to land a good punch against him last week. Pacquiao is an attack minded boxer, but he is not another Ricky Hatton. In the ring, he can be just as clever as Mayweather, and will prove to be quicker in both footwork and hands. This will be his basis for victory, however, he will need to ensure he keeps his wits about him.

Should he win, he will most certainly be crowned the best boxer of his generation. After the Cotto fight, promoter Bob Arum stated “He’s the best fighter I have ever seen and that includes Ali, Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard”. That seems a sweeping remark to me. In my view cross generational comparisons in sport are impossible; but should he tame Floyd Mayweather Jnr in the months to come, I may just come a bit closer to understanding exactly what Mr. Arum means.