Pacquiao's fighting style compared to Bruce Lee's

Pound for pound champ Manny Pacquiao watched a lot of Bruce Lee movies growing up, which probably explains why their fighting style is quite similar.

Teri Tom, a female martial arts instructor and member of Bruce Lee Foundation, noticed Pacquiao’s fighting skills to be akin to Bruce Lee when she watched him during his training in the US. She shared her observation about the champion fighter.

“The way you throw your jabs and punches, sometimes it looks very much like Bruce Lee. Is that conscious? Very few people throw jab that way. When you’re a kid did you watch him?” Tom asked Pacquiao, as featured on “24 Oras,” April 27.

Pacquiao immediately admitted, “Bruce Lee is my idol. All Bruce Lee’s movies I watched it. You know, the quickness, hands speed, foot work. That’s speed,” said the boxer, who is set to fight with Sugar Shane Mosley next month.

A first generation student of Ted Wong, who studied martial arts under Bruce Lee, Tom shared her insights about Pacquiao’s fighting skills and a little about Bruce Lee. She noted Pacquiao’s fast jabs, which is called ‘snap.'

“If you have a jab like that, obviously they’re gonna respect you. But if you don’t have much power behind that jab it’s gonna be a long day.”

She’s glad to see Pacquiao unwittingly imbibing Jeet Kune Do’s right lead discipline. Jeet Kune Do is a martial arts system and life philosophy founded by world renowned martial artist Bruce Lee.

“There’s a lot going on, it appears. There are people who studied Bruce Lee [for] many, many decades and they can’t break it down, figure it out and Manny, he’s done it... I would assume without an instructor. Seems like he’s absorbed a lot of what he saw Bruce Lee doing. He put the strong, side and front,” Tom shared.

Meanwhile, Pacquiao welcomed reports that Mosley is training very hard for their fight scheduled next month. In a clip shown on “TV Patrol” April 27, Mosley confidently said that he’ll throw Pacquiao a lot of punches early on in the fight.

“If Margarito is fast enough to land punches on Manny Pacquiao, then I know that I’m fast enough to land punches on Manny Pacquiao,” Mosley said.

Seemingly unperturbed, Pacquiao said he welcomes his opponent’s preparation. “I work hard in this training camp and he work[s] hard too. So that’s good, good for the fans, we’re going to give them a good fight,” he said on the same “TV Patrol” episode.

Still on Pacquiao, the champion boxer personally picked international singer Charice Pempengco to sing the Philippine National Anthem just before his fight with Mosley.

“Si Charice Pempengco magaling na singer para makilala siya ng buong bayang Pilipino at makita ‘yung galing niya sa pagkanta,” he said.

Overwhelmed by her selection, Pempengco took to Twitter to thank the boxer. “Thank you Sir Manny Pacquiao for choosing me to sing the Philippine Nat'l Anthem for your fight. Feel really blessed :),” said Pempengco.

By ALEX VALENTIN BROSAS