Fight pick: Pacquiao over De La Hoya by unanimous decision By This content is protected on December 3rd, 2008 Take it from somebody who has been around Oscar De La Hoya many times over the years, and who has been around Manny Pacquiao a few times recently: De La Hoya is much bigger. Its not even close. By measurement, DLH has Pacman only by a few inches, and maybe not be a lot of pounds once they enter the ring on Saturday in Las Vegas, but in real, eyeball terms, Oscars body frame is at least 20% larger than Mannys. Itll be like when Evander Holyfield first fought Mike Tysonyou really couldnt tell how much bigger Evander was, how much his shoulders outflanked Tyson, until you saw them in the middle of the ring, and you saw Holyfield towering over Tyson and shoving him around. Pacman vs Oscar: Its like a defensive back vs. a defensive end. (Pacquiao has fought the lions share of his fights at 120 pounds or lighter. De La Hoyas last nine fightsdating back more than seven yearshave been at 150 pounds or more. Theyll fight at 147 on Saturday, the lightest weight Oscar has fought at since beating Arturo Gatti in 2001.) Despite the size difference and the advantages that hands to DLH, I still like Pacquiao to win this fight. I like Pacquiao because De La Hoya has fought a bunch of very talented smaller, quicker fighters in his career, and the only one he caught clean was James Leija, who just wasnt in Pacmans level as a fighter. I like Pacquiao because De La Hoya is much better when his opponent is standing right in front of him, and I presume that Pacmans trainer, Freddie Roach, absolutely knows that from his time training Oscar. Manny likes to pressure and he likes to exchange, but I think hell come at De La Hoya from angles, which will make it tough for De La Hoya, who likes a straight up target. (Like Vargas, Mayorga, Trinidad, Gatti and Chavez.) I like Pacquiao because De La Hoya was never the greatest technical fighter nor the greatest KO fighter even in his primehis talent and, eventually, his chin made up for it for a whileand this is way, way past Oscars prime. I dont think Oscar will be able to find Pacquiao for that one clean shot he needs, and Oscars combinations always rely on him landing that one clean shot to start up the fireworks. Otherwise, De La Hoya gets tentative. And Ill bet Pacquiao catches Oscar clean many times. Pacman wont knock out De La Hoya because Oscar can take a punch, especially from somebody who he naturally outweighs by 20 pounds. (Only KO loss of De La Hoyas career was to Bernard Hopkins, a middleweight, and it was on a liver shot that De La Hoya didnt react well to, if you want to be generous. If you want to say that Oscar found a comfy place to lie down, thatd be slightly ungenerous but not out of bounds.) Ill be fascinated to see it on pay-per-view: I want to see what the crowd is like, if the expected influx of Pacman partisans overwhelm Oscars high-roller/teeny-bopper fandom, and what happens to Mannys career after he beats De La Hoya and becomes the biggest fighter in the world. Ill wonder what happens when De La Hoya lands a half-clean blowhe will get Pacman a few times with almost-perfect shots, because Manny will be coming at Oscar, even though Manny will have to be ducking in and throwing his punches up at Oscar. Will Pacquiao get reckless like he did a few times against Erik Morales? Just for the fun of the brawl? I think Pacquiao knows better. He knows that he plays right into DLHs power if he just stands in front of him and exchanges big blasts. That is a scenario that almost certainly will not end well for Manny. Look at it this way, and Im sure Roach is doing exactly this: * Oscar lost to and was out-classed by a smaller, much faster Floyd Mayweater in 2007. (Look for talk of Pacman vs. Floyd, if Floyd comes out of retirement, after Pacman either gets Ricky Hatton or bypasses him.) * Oscar lost two times to faster Shane Mosley, in 2000 and 2003, and Mosley wasnt exactly running away. * Oscar beat but never caught a smaller, faster, retreating Hector Camacho in 1997. * Oscar won a controversial decision after getting mostly controlled by a faster Pernell Whitaker in 1997. * Oscar is 3-3 since turning 30 losing all three times he faced legitimate world-class opponents. (And why is he still the biggest fighter in the world? He just is.) If Pacquiaos reflexes are still there, and I think they are, but you never know with a guy who has been hit as much as he has If Pacquiao stays disciplined, waits out De La Hoya, then flurries at the end, using that jackhammer left hand for the judges to see If Pacquiao moves head (ALWAYS A CONCERN) to avoid major shots I think the smaller man has a big advantage in this one. I think Pacman is already is a Hall of Famer, and already the most famous man in the Philippines. But this is the bout that Americans will remember. Wont be a war. I dont think anybodys hitting the canvas. But Pacquiao will win a good, brisk tactical fight, by unanimous decision.
Interesting prediction, even though he is doing wishful thinking. I think many people underestimate Oscar's size advantage and how much his power will effect Pacquaio. I just see Oscar keeping him at bay with his left jab and sitting behind his power punches early which would just make Manny a sitting duck for everything that comes behind it. This will be a mismatch, and it will be apparent from the first round.
Delahoya lost to Mosley in a war, and then I believe won the rematch. Lost to Bernard Hopkins and Floyd Mayweather, two of the best fighters of our generation and was competitive with both. He then dominated Forbes, I don't give a **** if his face got marked up he won every minute of that fight. He still has one of the best jabs in the sport and one of the best left hooks. He is a future HOFer and one of the best technical boxers of our generation. He is not the type of fighter that a fighter of Manny's size and more importantly STYLE can move up to 147 and have success against.
That writer was just doing wishful thinking. Mosley, Mayweather and Hopkins was actually as big or even bigger than De La Hoya was( expect for Mayweather who was only a weight division lower at the time). People forget that Manny is a LIGHTWEIGHT, and actually a featherweight if we are talking about natural size.
