Why did Oscar De La Hoya pick Manny Pacquiao – a boxer who started his career at 106 pounds – when he could have fought any full-fledged, big-name welterweights out there such as Miguel Cotto, Paul Williams, and Antonio Margarito?
Was it for the money? Undeniably. After all, they don’t call it prizefighting for nothing. Pacquiao, the pound-for-pound champion, is one of the biggest draws in boxing today, second only to De La Hoya himself. And it’s safe to say that the Pacman is a bigger draw than any of the three welterweight names I’ve mentioned above.
Was it also for the honor? Hard to say. If De La Hoya wanted to go out with a bang and secure his legacy, he would have fought Antonio Margarito after the “Tijuana Tornado” dismantled the game but outgunned Miguel Cotto.
Was it because De La Hoya believed that a tussle with the undersized Pacquiao would be an easier fight?
Perhaps.
Of course, as we all witnessed, it wasn’t easy for De La Hoya. In fact, the easiest thing De La Hoya could do all night was quit. He refused to answer the bell for the ninth round after taking a beating for a full eight rounds.
Pacquiao, who had stepped up to welterweight after fighting his first fight at lightweight six months ago, beat the odds and dominated De La Hoya from the start. In the early rounds, Pacquiao was content to use his hand and foot speed to dart in and out with his jabs and his vaunted straight left, potshotting De La Hoya’s head and body from a distance. In the middle rounds, as De La Hoya visibly slowed, Pacquiao became even more confident and engaged the Golden Boy in a toe-to-toe battle. In the seventh and eight, Pacquiao stepped on the gas as he threw combination after combination, pinning De La Hoya several times against the ropes and almost knocking him down. Simply put, De La Hoya didn’t have any answer for the fiery Filipino. De La Hoya didn’t expect Pacquiao to beat him in such dominant fashion.
He wasn’t alone.
Bob Arum summed it up best: “The media, the press is never wrong. You all said it was a mismatch and it was a mismatch.”
For De La Hoya, that is.
8 Count News colleague Brad Cooney, in his post-fight report, hit the nail on the head: “One thing is for sure, there are a lot of writers and so called boxing experts that are eating a plate full of crow right now. There were even a few writers that were calling this fight a complete circus act, and came pretty close to belittling Roach, and Top Rank for even considering such a fight.”
I’m one of those writers who should be eating a plateful of crow right now. But not because I picked De La Hoya to win. In fact, in the official 8 Count News prediction page, I picked Pacquiao by split decision:
“Perhaps the biggest question coming into the fight is how Pacquiao’s chin will hold up against De La Hoya’s punches. De La Hoya is a natural lefty but uses an orthodox stance (he is a converted southpaw), and his strongest punches are the jab and left hook. But De La Hoya is moving down to 147 pounds and there is a big chance that this will affect his power. Pacquiao has put on the pounds, but judging from his cut physique, most of the extra weight he gained is pure muscle. If Pacquiao can take De La Hoya’s best punches, the next question to be asked is: Can De La Hoya handle Pacquiao’s speed, grit, and relentless aggression? In a perfect world the great big man will almost always win against the great little man. But as we all know, this is an imperfect world. Pacquiao by hard-fought split decision.”
No, I should be eating a plateful of crow right now for even thinking that the fight would last the distance, for believing that it would be a grueling battle for the Pacman.
Of course, Pacquiao should be commended for sticking to the game plan and for using to the hilt not only his superior speed and agility but also his underrated boxing skills. But the most surprising thing is how Pacquiao breezed through the fight virtually unscathed. In contrast, De La Hoya’s mug was battered and bruised, with one eye almost completely shut.
In other words, Pacquiao made it look easy.
Perhaps De La Hoya believed that a tussle with the undersized Pacquiao would be an easy fight?
Makes you wonder if De La Hoya is now regretting why he didn’t pick Antonio Margarito in the first place.
In the end, De La Hoya didn’t go out with a bang. He left with nary a whimper.
