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 When this fight was first mentioned, I assumed like most that it was not going to happen. Manny Pacquiao is far too small to go to battle with a skilled powerhouse like Oscar De La Hoya. But this is boxing and money talks, and here we are with less than a month to go before this “Dream Fight” takes place. I have watched HBO’s great documentary series 24/7 and they are really doing a great job to present this fight as a competitive bout between the arguably best pound for pound fighter in the game, Pacquiao and the most marketable boxer in the world, De La Hoya.
What should be expected as these two warriors get into the ring, and make no mistake, they are both warriors. De La Hoya has been unfairly treated at times by the media as well as the fans when he elected to not fight like Julio Cesar Chavez in every fight, but what cannot be taken away from him is the fact that he faces anyone, anywhere, any time. He has fought men in their prime that were great fighters like Felix Trinidad, Ike Quartey, Fernando Vargas, Shane Mosley, Miguel Angel Gonzalez, and Rafael Ruelas. He looks at the sport as a business, but he also understands legacy and that is why he has faced so many tough customers. With his marketing potential, he could face nobodies and the fans would lay down the money, but he has opted to take on the challenges that the fans wanted to see him face, and he has won most of them.
Manny Pacquiao is another boxer that fights the best available opposition, facing Erik Morales (3 times), Marco Antonio Barrera (2 times), Juan Manuel Marquez (2 times), Oscar Larios, and David Diaz. He has been labeled the “Mexican Assassin” because most of his victories have been over great Mexican fighters. The blood and guts style that Barrera and Morales have used were custom made for the Filipino superstar. He eats up aggressive fighters and that is why he has done well against the group mentioned above. When his opponent elected to box instead of slug, they had a much easier time. Morales actually picked up a victory while Marquez got a draw and lost a disputed decision in the rematch.
The Facts:
Oscar De La Hoya, 39-5, 30 KO’s
Career: 1992-Present
Age: 35
Former Super Featherweight, Lightweight, Light Welterweight, Welterweight, Light Middleweight, and Middleweight Champion.
In 1992, the professional career of De La Hoya began at the very low weight of 133 pounds, an unnaturally low weight for a man his size and build. The intention was to win titles at many different weight classes and to come in stronger than his opposition to make him look more devastating. This weight did both, and when he came in at 128 to vie for the WBO Super Featherweight Title, he overwhelmed Jimmy Bredahl. The first defeat on his record would be a highly disputed one to Puerto Rican superstar, Felix “Tito” Trinidad. To most, Oscar won handily but by giving up the later rounds, he gave up the fight. Two fights later, he would lose to Shane Mosley in a thrilling fight. He would rematch Mosley and lose in another disputed decision. There was no disputing his failed attempt to capture all of the middleweight gold when a body shot put him on the floor against Bernard Hopkins. That is the only knockout loss of his career. He has since come back with a record of 2-1, 1 KO, since that defeat, with the only loss being a decision to Floyd Mayweather, JR.
Manny “The Pacman” Pacquiao, 47-3-2, 35 KO’s
Career: 1995-Present
Age: 29
Former Flyweight, Super Bantamweight, Super Featherweight, and Lightweight Champion.
In 1995, Pacquiao began his career at 106 pounds. He would win his first title with an eighth round stoppage of Chatchai Sasakul, taking home the WBC Flyweight Title. He wouldn’t really make his name in the United States until November 15, 2003, when he stepped up to face one of the toughest fighters in the world, Marco Antonio Barrera on HBO. Barrera had just signed with Golden Boy Promotions and planned to showcase his skills against Pacquiao, who was moving up in weight, meeting at 125 pounds. It was a slaughter, with Barrera not only losing poorly, but behaving worse, intentionally head butting the Filipino superstar on several occasions. It didn’t matter, and Barrera was beaten into submission in the eleventh round. The next fight was easily fight of the year when Manny and Juan Manuel Marquez fought to an exciting draw. Erik Morales was next, but showed the blueprint to beat Pacquiao, out-boxing him over the course of 12 rounds, but in the three times that they met, Manny would win two of them, both by spectacular knockout. Pacquiao has won eight in a row, five of them by knockout, and is rated by most as the best fighter in the game.
The Breakdown
Freddie Roach
There has been a big deal made about Freddie Roach being in the corner of Manny because in De La Hoya’s last high profile bout against Floyd Mayweather, JR., he was his trainer and now some believe that he has an inside track and has the key for his man to defeat the Golden Boy. Had Roach been there from day one in his corner, perhaps he would have some sort of psychological advantage or may have even noticed a trend over the course of time to take advantage of, but realistically, the one fight that Roach trained him for means very little going into this one. De La Hoya is a professional, has been boxing professionally since 1992, and in all honesty, did not perform well under the tutelage of Roach. Expect a different De La Hoya come fight night. This concept that Roach being a former trainer of Oscars working against him is just smoke.
Size versus Speed
This is where most people put their stock into. Those siding with Oscar, point to the size advantage, while the ones that are betting on Manny to pull the upset, state that the speed will be far too much for the older fighter to handle. Both arguments are sound, but speed can be nullified where size really cannot. There was a time when Cassius Clay (later becoming Muhammad Ali) was discussing boxing with Cus D’Amato, the trainer of many world champions but mostly associate with Mike Tyson. At the time, Clay was in his prime, and he was known for his lightning speed and reflexes, while Cus was just an older guy that had been around the block. Well, Cus was able to land on the young heavyweight, startling him. How could an old man land a shot on somebody so young and quick? Timing. Timing beats speed and that is how Oscar plans to nullify it and most likely will. The size will be a much tougher nut to crack for the smaller Pacquiao.
Down the Stretch
Stopping Oscar “down the stretch,” is something that I have heard several times leading up to this fight. There is the thought that De La Hoya is weaker as the rounds go on and that the pressure of Manny will make him wilt in the later rounds, leading to a TKO victory for the Pacman. As far as I’ve seen there has been little to no evidence that De La Hoya fizzles incredibly “down the stretch.” Against Vargas, he was pressured as much as any fighter can be pressured and used his superior conditioning to comeback and stop him in the eleventh round. In his last two bouts against Floyd Mayweather, JR., and Steve Forbes, he showed no indications that he was dead tired in the later rounds. The fact of the matter is that he has gone twelve hard rounds on many occasions and I don’t think the pressure of a natural 130 pounder is going to get him “down the stretch.” It should also be noted that De La Hoya was only stopped once and that was by a 160 pound Hopkins. He actually takes a very good punch and has very good endurance.
Shane Mosley Proved it
In two encounters with Shane Mosley, De La Hoya came up short. In the first fight, it was the speed of Sugar Shane that was the deciding factor. Also, Shane was a naturally much smaller man and was able to stay out of harm’s way and take the decision, out-hustling the bigger man along the way. This is true, but Manny Pacquiao is no Shane Mosley in the sense that Mosley is a much more natural boxer and brought a different style to the ring then Pacquiao does. Although the standard has been set that speed and the right style could give Oscar some problems, there doesn’t seem to be much relevancy comparing Shane to Manny at this point. It’s not really accurate to say that Oscar has trouble with speed and speed alone.
Business Man or Boxer?
Now here is an argument that the Pacman fans can sink their teeth into. Steve Forbes noted that Oscar wasn’t going to be hungry anymore because it’s hard to be when you go to be in silk pajamas or something to that effect. Oscar is rich. He is filthy rich, and he had noted to Larry Merchant that he wanted to be a billionaire, which isn’t necessarily a boxer’s goal. The choice of Pacquiao was a business decision, nothing more. He could have faced off against Antonio Margarito in a true test, but opted to face the smaller boxer because he typically eats the smaller guys alive and will also be able to say that he beat the pound for pound best fighter in the world. But because this is solely a business decision and because Manny resembles many of the fighters that he had beaten with ease in the past, there is the possibility that he is not taking this fight that seriously mentally. He may be focusing on the cash and underestimating the challenge of his opponent. That right there is where Manny has a chance in this fight. If the business man shows up and Manny fights the fight of his life, we may see a memorable upset in the world of boxing. Oscar could go to sleep thinking about those billions.
December 6th, 2008: Dream Fight
It’s closing in quickly and HBO has that hype machine running in overdrive for this upcoming “Dream Fight.” Pacquiao being a god in the Philippines will do all he can to win this fight for the fans and has shown the heart of a lion in the past to win fights, but how does he knock De La Hoya out? He had trouble with the strength of Juan Manuel Marquez and Oscar is a world stronger and hits a world harder. This fight is rightfully called “The Dream Fight” because from all indications, Manny will be put into dreamland early. Size matters but it’s not only a size issue. Oscar is very skilled and intelligent and it should be very interesting to see what happens when that left hook lands. Also, for those of you that are die hard Manny supporters, let me throw something out there before the hate mail comes in. Years ago there were two fights thrown out there for Manny that the masses came out to protest against. Pacquiao was considered too small to face either one and there was concern about his health should he go ahead with the bouts. One was Diego Corrales and the other was Ricky Hatton. Why is Oscar De La Hoya beatable and safe, when those two were far too dangerous to fight? It’s the hype of the event. It has been sold. HBO is great at hyping fights and they could do it for just about anyone, and they are going to give the impression that this is a competitive match when it is unfortunately not. Manny is a very big underdog going into this one, and there have also been persistent rumors that he is not handling the bigger guys in the gym all that well.
This event is more of a circus than an actual super fight. The curiosity factor will sell this more than anything else, outside of the blind support on both sides of the fence for these fighters. Look for Oscar De La Hoya to get his big victory and ride off into the sunset until something else comes along. Remember he is a business man and this is smart business. All signs point to an early KO for the Golden Boy. -by Geno McGahee
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