Still, De La Hoya said he felt fine physically when he stepped into the ring. It was after the opening bell, when the fighters started throwing punches and “I felt like I was walking in quicksand,” that he knew it could be a long night. At one point in the seventh, he said, he hoped Pacquiao would knock him out because “I felt like my hands were tied behind my back.” “That’s where I thought, ‘Go ahead (Manny) and land something strong and hard right on the button so you can knock me out and take me out of my misery.’ That’s how I felt at the moment.” This content is protected DLH's first interview after the fight. Check the link for the full article.
horse ****. oscar straight up QUIT. nacho recommended the fight to be stopped and not only did he confirm & clarify oscar saying "yes" that's it, nacho even asked if he wanted 1 more round addressing him as "boss"... now if oscar wanted to go out like he's saying, he would have fought that 1 more round & gotten KTFO as he wished.
This is the strangest thing I've ever heard Hoya say. Very sad. It shows that he should not be in the rind anymore.
Oscar went on to say that Pac doesn't hit that hard which is what I find most interesting. Clearly Pac was very tentative with his punches and limited his vulnerability by not over extending too often but none the less his power at 147 should not be overstated. Many people on these boards wish to see Pac fight Cotto or Mosley after Hatton and I just think Pac should continue to be selective with his opponents and not get to overzealous with his success at these higher weights.
Yeah, that was the strangest thing said to me too. Which makes me rethink who I think will win in Pac/Hatton a bit. It means that PAc's power might not have transferred and it was only Oscar's inability to guard that gave him that ****ed up face. Enough shots by even Malignagghi when ungaurded will **** anyone up. I think Oscar's being honest in this interview, you can sense his confusion and self-struggle through the whole thing.
I found Oscar's comments about pac 'not hitting that hard,' pretty interesting. Oscar's face, his grabbing the rope in the 7th, and the near knockdown in the 8th, tell a different story. Diaz said the same thing in his fight with pac; 'it's not his punches, it's the speed I can't deal with.' Obviously, when pac started sitting down on his punches in the 8th and 9th rounds, Diaz couldn't deal with the power, either. Not saying that pac's as great a puncher at ww as he was at feather, but, I'm not sure I believe Oscar's assessment. Kinda sounds like sour grapes to me.
Seems like a case of chin being the last thing to go. Oscar took clean punches off of guys like Quartey, Shane, and a roided up Vargas. It's very possible that Manny wasn't hurting him in the same way, but since he was unable to respond, someone was going to have to stop it. You could see that Tony Weeks wanted to step in, but he also knew that if he did too soon, there might be "controversy". Pride, honor, and all that garbage aside, I don't think anybody really wanted to see Oscar come out for the ninth. The fight was over.
No. Duran 'quit'. DLH got the **** beat out of him and knew he couldn't win the fight and stayed on his stool. There's a difference.