I don't feel one bit bad for Oscar. This was kind of like when Creed set up his fight with Balboa. It was a sure win with excellent marketability. Except Balboa didn't completely dominate Creed. Oh, and that was fake. I was against this fight from the get go because I didn't think that Oscar beating Manny would do anything to further legitimize the sport. Thankfully, Manny didn't get the memo.
Yes, I'm glad he lost b/c he tried to pull one over on casual boxing fans. He wanted to win and restore his marketability, and thought that his size advantage would be enough to beat Pac. Didn't work out that way.
Size was the ONLY advantage Oscar had going into this fight and he gave that away. My completely unsubstantiated theory is that he was looking ahead to a Hatton fight (which he remarked he'd be willing to do at 140) and thought he still had enough speed to hang with Manny.
I'm not keen on the Armstrong comparisons, though. He beat a pedestrian belt holder at 135 and an over the hill 154 pound fighter at 147. He's still the top fighter P4P, though.
Undisputedly so. So much, in fact, that if Floyd had not retired or unretired now he would NOT be #1 P4P on my list. I'd still favor Floyd (and root for Manny) in a head to head match up, though.
He still beat a decent champion at 135 who looked as horrible as he did against Pacquiao simply because he had Pacquiao against him. Also, his win over DLH isn't just a win over a shot fighter. That same shot fighter, who I agree is shot, had all the advantages he needed in this fight and WAY more with only one disadvantage and that was age, really that's no excuse to lose a fight he was a HUGE favorite going in. The size difference in the ring made it look crazy and laughable. This is also the same DLH that gave Mayweather Jr. HELL recently and stayed active by fighting/beating Forbes. Pacquiao went in there and did what NO ONE ever did to DLH before, even the Hopkins win wasn't as dominating and SHOCKING. This was coming from a man SO much smaller in the ring people actually called it a CIRCUS before the fight because everyone expected him to get KO'd as early as the third or even FIRST. If this doesn't impress you, nothing will.
I am very impressed with the win and I agree with you on ALL counts. However, unlike armstrong, he never established himself as the best lightweight or featherweight. By no means does he rule either of these divisions.
He doesn't rule either of these divisions, that's for sure. But is there a true official #1 at 135 or 147?, let's say when Pac made his moves there. Diaz was coming off an impressive win over Morales and Cruz, he was a legitimate title holder in the division, no he wasn't #1 but there was no official #1 till Diaz lost to Campbell, even then there wasn't an official #1 till Guzman met Campbell and that didn't happen. At 147 there is no official #1 fighter either, after Mayweather's retirement that title remains vacant unless someone unifies. On paper it's Margarito in that division but officially it's no one till someone unifies like DLH/Mosley did.
It was the equivalent of Oscar fighting Sturm at 160. It was simply grabbing a belt for the sake of doing so. At the time, Nate Campbell and Juan Diaz were clearly at the top of the division. David, many people felt, didn't deserve the decision over Morales and was only in rated in the top 5 due to having a belt. It was a good win for Manny, but it hardly legitmized him as a cream of the crop lightweight.
I don't feel bad for Oscar either. One should be careful what he wishes for, I guess. I think Oscar thought he could hang in there with Manny and eventually beat the smaller guy, so he could stage another big money fight with another marletable fighter (like Hatton). I don't agree with those that say Oscar knew he would get beat, I honestly think he believed he could win this. But he underestimated Pacquiao's abilities and obviously overestimated his own. Imo Oscar looked genuinly shocked after the fight was over, realizing he just doesn't have it anymore. Anyway, Pac deserves huge credit for emerging victorious, and in such dominating fashion. Good thread errsta.
