No Mas for Oscar

Is Manny that good or is Oscar that shot? I think it maybe a little bit of both. On Saturday night, Manny Pacquiao proved to be the best pound for pound fighter in the world by picking apart Oscar De La Hoya over eight rounds, until he forced the Golden Boy to quit. With is face battered, Oscar no longer wanted to continue and called off the fight moments before the ninth round was to begin.

            With the win, Manny has moved himself into becoming a household name in America. After all, he did just beat the poster boy for American boxing. The man who has sold out every fight he has had in Vegas over the past fifteen years.  The same man who has also made more money in the sport than any other fighter and on Saturday night that was what Oscar looked like he has on his mind. Win, lose, or draw, Oscar was paid his millions. Teddy Atlas said it best earlier this week when asked about the fight on ESPN.  “I think the only thing De La Hoya is worried about is adding maybe $20 million or $30 million to his bank account, which he's going to do ... If anybody is taking this fight more seriously, it's going to be Pacquiao, because it means more to him. ... To the Filipino people -- to his people -- it means everything in the world.” Oscar looked scared to throw punches. Once he saw the speed Pacquiao had in the first round, he knew he had hand picked the wrong opponent. Sure Manny was moving up two weight classes to take on the much bigger De La Hoya, but the one thing Manny had bigger was heart. Next up for Pacquiao could be a showdown against the top Junior Welterweight in the world and the 10^th ranked Pound for Pound fighter by Ring Magazine Ricky Hatton.

Let us face the facts, over the past decade Oscar De La Hoya has failed to win a major fight.  He has only three wins in his past seven fights. Those have came against a blown up lightweight (Steve Forbes), a human punching bag (Ricardo Mayorga) and a gift decision over a relatively unknown at the time, Felix Sturm. Sure, his resume in the 1990’s looks impressive with two wins over Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez, Pernell “Sweet P” Whitaker, and Hector Camacho. However all three of them are nearly a decade older than Oscar is and where on the tail end of their careers while Oscar was in his prime.

 The one thing Oscar has proved good at over the past decade is his business skills. He continues to have a major following and is the biggest household name in boxing in America. His Pay -Per -View and gate sales are always near the highest totals in boxing. His Golden Boy Promotions Company has become one of the top boxing promoters in the world. The totals are not out yet, but I am sure the Pay–Per-View sales were high for Saturday night, even though the under card was possibly the weakest I have seen in quite some time.  It is time for Oscar to hang them up and stick to what he has been best at recently, making money not boxing.