Manny Pacquiao recovered from first-round knockdown to earn one of the biggest wins of his early career

Manny Pacquiao defeated Marco Antonio Barrera after early scare

Despite being a two-weight world champion already, having won flyweight and super-bantamweight world titles, Pacquiao had mostly fought in the Philippines, and it took one fight in 2003 for him to become a household name.

Pacquiao credits the Barrera fight as his favorite for the doors it opened for him in the United States, but the fight itself was not smooth sailing.

Pacquiao, 37-2-1, faced 57-3 Barrera, who was expected by many to beat the Filipino fighter, especially after Pacquiao touched down on the canvas in round one and was given a count.

Pac-Man flipped the script, though, as he began to pick up round after round, before overwhelming Barrera in the eleventh round to claim the Ring featherweight title.

He and Barrera fought again at super-featherweight in 2007, and Pacquiao won again, this time on points.

Marco Antonio Barrera shut down a British showboating extraordinaire

In 2001, years before his fight with Pacquiao, who met Barrios at a basketball game to make their fight, Barrera fought 35-0 Prince Naseem Hamed for the vacant IBO featherweight world title.

Barrera was an underdog going into the fight against Hamed, who had built a reputation as a showboating and cocky Brit.

The fight wasn’t one-sided, though it did end in a unanimous decision, and marked a first for Hamed, who took his maiden defeat.

Hamed had just one fight after this one, getting back to winning ways a whole year later, before retiring for good.