Six degrees of separation is a theory that everyone in the world is separated by no more than six social connections.
In other words, you know someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows Queen Elizabeth. Or so the concept goes.
We’re borrowing the six degrees concept – well, sort of loosely – to connect fighters from the past to their more contemporary counterparts in our new occasional feature, “Degrees of Separation.”
Example: Let’s connect Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Super easy; we did it in two steps. Senior fought Grover Wiley, who fought Junior.
In this installment of the Boxing Junkie feature, we connect arguably the two greatest Filipino boxers of all time: the late Flash Elorde, who last fought in 1971, and the still-active Manny Pacquiao.
Elorde (89-27-2, 33 KOs) was a world junior lightweight champion from 1960 to 1967 and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) has won titles in eight weight divisions. The Hall awaits him.
It took us only six steps to link the two even though Elorde’s final fight took place almost a half century ago.
Check it out:
Flash Elorde fought …
Ismael Laguna, who fought …
Ken Buchanan, who fought …
Roberto Duran, who fought …
Hector Camacho, who fought …
Oscar De La Hoya, who fought …
Manny Pacquiao, who fought …
Could you do it in fewer steps? Let us know via Twitter or Facebook. Or you can contact me on Twitter. And please follow us!
Degrees of separation: Connecting John L. Sullivan to Deontay Wilder