Friday, November 28, 2008

Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao

I know Boxing is an old man's sport, but I'm really looking forward to the Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao fight.

Even though it's a huge mismatch.

Personally, I feel it's a no-win-situation for Oscar De La Hoya.

To be completely honest, as a boxing fan, I think it's kind of pathetic that De La Hoya is fighting the much smaller Manny Pacquiao.

To me it feels like a desperate attempt by him to gain the support of a Mexican audience he's never had. To most boxing insiders, it looks like he's fighting Pacquiao simply because he's famous for defeating Mexico's best fighters, Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez and Marco Antonio Barrera.

I like a good fight as much as anyone, but De La Hoya is FOUR inches taller than Pacquiao and has a SIX inch reach advantage over him. Not to mention that Pacquiao is going to move up TWO weight classes to fight De La Hoya.

Can you realistically script a more lopsided fight?

To me the physical mismatch is equivalent to the difference De La Hoya had against Bernard Hopkins in their fight.

We all know how that ended.

I do believe that Pacquiao has a better shot than De La Hoya did though. He's faster and quicker than Oscar. Pacquiao has a good shot if he boxes with De La Hoya and tries to win by decision. I also think it was a good move by Pacquiao to take the fight. Besides the money, it gives him more visibility and international fame in the sport. It's a win-win situation for Manny.

Don't get me wrong, I still hope that Manny wins and I'd love to see him knock De La Hoya out.

But let's be realistic. Pacquiao is going in as big underdog. It would be a huge upset if he won.

Last week during the Ricky Hatton match, the HBO announcers said that even if Pacquiao loses the match to De La Hoya, he'll still be considered the pound for pound champ because of the big jump in weight class he's making.

I agree.

But I'll still be watching on December 6, because I love Pacquiao and I'm hoping for the epic upset.

But if Oscar wins as expected, I hope he steps up and tries to fight someone his own size. Maybe someone like Antonio Margarito or Miguel Cotto.

Those two would dish out a beating on Oscar he won't soon forget.

I think the Golden Boy wouldn't be so Golden anymore.







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