De La Hoya (1998) vs Pacquiao (2008) welterweigt

Nobody has ever battered post lightweight Pac.

 

Pac has never fought anyone Elite like Prime WW Oscar past the lightweight. JMM is not peak at WW and Mosley was well past prime. A 2 handed fighter like Oscar will establish the jab and tear into Pac's body and head with vicious combos. So this would be the case in which Pac gets battered...

 

It's an interesting one, and I think it depends on Oscar's fight tactics. Oscar didn't too well against the somewhat similar powerboxing Mosley when he looked to brawl. I think he should stick to boxing here, but then again I'm not sure how well he handles the southpaw angles

 

Would Oscar change southpaw again and wing left crosses? Manny is far less elusive than Pea but faster, powerful and with a much higher workrate...I think it was Pea's jab causing Oscar problems getting off early though. Whenever he tried to throw the right in the first few rounds he was off balance.

Oscar by late stoppage is my gut feeling.

 

Against Pacquiao Oscar the salesmen cashed out on Oscar the Boxer.

 

I'm a big believer of Oscar at welter and he has by far beaten the better names.

I don't think manny will get stopped. I think Oscar does it on points closely 8-4/ 7-5 type fight.he has the powerful combinations that will keep pac honest and bring his workrate down. Pac will finish stronger for me and sweep the championship rounds, I'm almost convinced of that.

But I think Oscar will win the majority of the early rounds to build up a big lead. I don't see a knockdown occuring and I think it will be a tactical fight but ultimately Oscar is just more proven at this weight and I think he'll edge it out.

 

True actually. If Oscar doesn't get rid of Manny by 8 or 9 rounds he'll be ****ed at the end and Pacman of the Cotto fight would still have fuel to burn.

Manny can be buzzed but his fast feet should see him out of trouble. My only worry is that he defends stood still with his hands up, De La Hoya will find space for his left hand there and might well really hurt Pacqiuao.

 

Actually Oscar's workrate as a whole maybe a serious ssue, which fights does he fight for 3mins of a round?

 

Nice post on this. If he were to use the Trinidad fight and box and use angles and combinations, Pac would be very screwed. I have no doubt he'd cut Pac as well as Pac seems to cut really easy and Oscar pretty much cut up everyone at 147 besides Mosley.

 

The Vargas fight is the only one I can think of.

Pac doesn't have a great defence though and if every time he opens up he's being tagged with a left hook from Oscar I can't see him fighting like a buzz saw early doors.

 

Pac is a really well conditioned fighter so I think he'll finish the stronger, but technically he isn't on a level with De La Hoya imo. Pac's an athlete more than a master boxer and I just can't see him too willing to take the big blows from Oscar.

 

Left hooks don't work so well against southpaws unless you get the angles right, Pacquiao's fought the following left hookers: Cotto, Barrera, Delahoya, Hatton. The left hook being their primary weapon, none of them got landed many left hooks and all of them dominated. Pacquaio's straight left is also as quick as most left hooks

That would be a bit of Oscar's problem here, workrate and a problem with the southpaw stance

 

cotto gave Pac a competitive fight early doors but the rest were dominated.

If anyone can find the angles, it's Oscar. I also think this could be the first time Pac faces someone as physically strong as him, someone who can actually put him on the backfoot for periods of the fight.

whislt Pac doesn't leave himself open to a left hook as an individual punch, the shots is definitely there as part of a combination and Oscar can bang with either hand if he finds his left not working for him.

the workrate is my biggest concern because we know Pac can fight hard for 36 minutes. I think Oscar has to win 7 or more of the first 9 to do this.

 

I'm not too worried about Pac's southpaw stance. Whitaker is as classic a southpaw as you could get with a great jab. Pac leads with his left hand and almost always ends up with his feet squared.

It was the left hooks that buckled Pac badly in the first 2 Marquez fights, and the left that busted him open.