Manny Pacquiao proved many boxing pundits wrong when he completely dominated Oscar De La Hoya last night in what was labeled The Dream Match. Pacquiao fought in a weight class 12 pounds higher than his last fight but wound up entering the ring as the heavier man by one and a half pounds. Pacquiao controlled the fight from the opening bell until De La Hoya’s corner called the fight after the 8th round.
Oscar De La Hoya never seemed to be in the flow of the fight. That is a credit to Manny Pacquiao and the gameplan set forth by his trainer, Freddie Roach. Many boxing writers, including myself, believed De La Hoya would be too big and too powerful for Manny to handle. Manny proved all of us wrong with his quick combinations and sharp accuracy. He got inside of Oscar’s reach, let loose on a flurry, and got out. It was a beautiful display of boxing by Manny Pacquiao. Much better than the performance Floyd Mayweather Jr put up against the same man.
It was a beautiful display of boxing by Manny Pacquiao
Oscar didn’t win a single round, at least on a realistic scorecard. Oscar looked flat and Manny looked incredible. This was Manny Pacquiao’s coming out party. He can have any fight he wants. The near future points to a fight with Ricky Hatton which would matchup two high-action fighters. Hatton would certainly be more active than De La Hoya was, but Pacquiao is on another level right now and is the undisputed Pound-for-Pound King. Still, a fight with Hatton at 140 lbs is the best option for Manny and boxing, plus it would draw a huge crowd as both fighters travel well.
Oscar said he would retire if he lost to Manny Pacquiao. He was non-committal to that notion after the fight but did say he had some thinking to do. There is nothing left for De La Hoya to prove, other than that he can win the big fight. While he has beaten plenty of quality fighters and is headed to the Hall of Fame, De La Hoya has also lost every “big” fight of his career. As his performance against Pacquiao showed, he no longer has the ability to beat a credible fighter in his prime. Therefore, no meaningful fight awaits De La Hoya that he has a chance of winning. It would be in Oscar’s best interest to hang up his gloves. Honestly, I hope that doesn’t happen because whomever he faces would get a nice rub off of Oscar.
Undercard Results
The knock on the undercard going in was that it featured top prospects matched up against meaningless fighters, thus showing nothing in terms of where these fighters of the future stand. The preconceived notions came out to be true as no fights made it past the second round.
– Daniel Jacobs beat Victor Lares by TKO in the 2nd round of their super middleweight bout.
– Juan Manuel Lopez retained his WBO Super Bantamweight Title with a 1st round TKO of Sergio Medina. Lopez is the real deal and could make for some epic matchups in the 122 lb division.
– Victor Ortiz disposed of Jeffrey Resto in the 2nd round by TKO in their light welterweight fight.
