Why we're getting De La Hoya - Pacquiao
Over the years I've been a huge defender of Oscar De La Hoya. That said, I've never considered Oscar an authentically great fighter, for one reason, he's not. Having said that, I like the fact that Oscar never ducked a fighter who was a perceived threat, nor has he ever fought not to lose or avoid getting hurt. Make no mistake, De La Hoya is tough and has plenty of heart.
In his big fights from 147 an up where the outcome wasn't conclusive, (I say 147 because I feel Oscar won a majority of his fights on the scales from 130-140) I think he drew with Whitaker, pulled the Quartey fight out with a 2-point 12th round, clearly beat Trinidad, and clearly lost to Mosley. I had him beating Mosley by a point at 154 (I saw it on TV, not live), and drawing with Sturm at 160.
I have always felt that De La Hoya thought if he could've beat Bernard Hopkins in 2004, he would've insured and secured his legacy. And since he was stopped by him, he's been looking for a fight to secure his legacy the way Sugar Ray Leonard did by beating Marvin Hagler. Remember, Sugar Ray Leonard is the fighter Oscar most compares and measures himself with.
In my opinion this all stems from De La Hoya never having won one of his signature fights in an impression fashion. I believe that Oscar is still looking for that career defining win, and that was the reason he fought Floyd Mayweather last year, and the reason he's fighting Manny Pacquiao this year. Like Mayweather then, Pacquiao is now considered the top pound-for-pound fighter in boxing. What a great way for Oscar De La Hoya to go out, beating the best fighter in boxing two months before he turns 36. That's why he's fighting Manny. See, Pacquiao is the perfect fit. He's a draw, along with being an exciting fighter, who's fearless and some see him as having a punchers chance....Wrong.
Oscar is too big, strong, and just fluid enough in style to decision Manny Pacquiao on December 6th 2008. He'll make another fortune, and he'll retire having defeated boxing best fighter. To which will cloud the judgment of many fight observers, and enhance his legacy to the ill informed or those having cookbook boxing insight. That's why he's fighting Manny Pacquiao! In a way, he goes out of boxing the way he entered it, beating up on guys smaller than him.
Labels: boxing, HBO, Manny Pacquiao, Oscar De La Hoya, pay-per-view
posted by Frank Lotierzo @ 3:05 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
The tickets are now set. We know who will be facing off in the big contest of 2008. And we’ve even heard a bit about the issues which separate them.
No, not those two guys, who are running so that they can hire people to fight for them and the money people behind them.
The big fight of 2008 is all set to take place Saturday, December 6, in Las Vegas between arguably the most popular boxer today, Oscar De La Hoya, and arguably the top pound-for-pound boxer today, Manny Pacquiao. Even if you quarrel with one or both of those assessments of these fighters, they both are name attractions who, matched against each other, will draw widespread attention.
The gambling prognosticators have already tabbed De La Hoya as the slight favorite, with the MGM Grand opening line yesterday at De La Hoya -155 and Pacquiao +135.
The chief reason, of course, is size. This fight is at welterweight, 147. Pacquiao fought as recently as 2004 at featherweight, 126. His next fights were all at super featherweight, 130, where he fought as recently as March, winning a split decision against Juan Manuel Marquez. He moved up to lightweight, 135, for one fight in June where he destroyed David Diaz.
De La Hoya has not fought at welterweight since 2001, when he stopped Arturo Gatti. Most of his subsequent fights were at super middleweight, 154, with a couple at middleweight, 160, although in his last fight, in May of this year, he fought at 150 against Stevie Forbes. As a comparison, he has not fought at lightweight, Pacquiao’s current weight class, since 1995, and not at super featherweight, which may be Pacquiao’s real weight class, since 1994.
Now that he is picking on a smaller guy, even smaller than Mayweather and Forbes, many people believe that De La Hoya has a realistic chance to win this fight. He is now, as he said on yesterday’s media conference call, hedging on his previous vow to make this the last fight of his career. But if he gets clobbered by the powerful Pacquiao, he may realize that it is time to devote full attention to his businesses. Plus, a bad loss or an embarrassing showing against Pacquiao may hurt his future in-ring marketability, since he only seems interested in huge paydays.
And a huge one it may be. Another national media tour is planned, and of course, interest is huge in the Philippines for Pacquiao, where he is a national celebrity and star.
A big fly in the ointment may be the effects of both the sagging economy and the growth of free, easy-to-use streaming video sites on the number of buys for this HBO pay-per-view. Many people in the U.S. received training in how to use these sites during the Olympics because of NBC’s annoyingly taped and edited telecasts. These sites will only grow, and threaten the pay-per-view TV model more and more with time. (http://boxingstandard.blogspot.com/2008/07/who-are-real-pirates.html)
But this fight should draw the largest pay-per-view TV audience in America this year of any event. Whether or not that is good overall for boxing is doubtful, but it certainly should draw in a large audience for this battle.
"In a way, he goes out of boxing the way he entered it, beating up on guys smaller than him."
You'll have to excuse me for stealing your line and repeating it for all my friends Frank. I liked ODLH for pretty much the same reasons you listed but if he intends to go out like this he has lost my interest. beating up a featherweight, give me a break...good luck Manny, it will be quite an accomplishment if you knock ODLH out. Eddie you are uncharacteristically kind in your comment, this fight is a farce!
There's the sport of boxing and there's the business of boxing. The two occasionally cohabit, but, in a media driven climate, we see it less and less of it with boxing's mainstream superstars. With an advertising powerhouse like HBO fueling a promotion, someone like Floyd Mayweather doesn't have to fight Antonio Margarito. Ricky Hatton can be propelled into prominence as a "great." And you have to ask yourself: Why fight Antonio Margarito for ten million dollars when you can fight higher profile (but infinitely safer) opponents like Hatton or De La Hoya for twice that money or more?
Of course De La Hoya versus Pacquiao is foolishness from a boxing standpoint. Manny has no chance whatsoever. But, increasingly, I find it hard to blame fighters for taking easy fights for enormous paydays. The fighters who take the murderous fights (guys like Israel Vazquez, Rafael Marquez, Juan, Manuel Marquez, and Marco Antonio Barrera) understand that it's what they must do to make seven figure paydays. They don't have the clout to be in fights where the guy in the other corner isn't an equal or near equal. We've been lucky the past few years: a lot of these kinds of fights have taken place. But, in a sense, that's neither here nor there. My guess is that if you asked these guys if they'd like the same paydays for taking on softies, they ask where they could sign up.
"With an advertising powerhouse like HBO fueling a promotion, someone like Floyd Mayweather doesn't have to fight Antonio Margarito. Ricky Hatton can be propelled into prominence as a "great." And you have to ask yourself: Why fight Antonio Margarito for ten million dollars when you can fight higher profile (but infinitely safer) opponents like Hatton or De La Hoya for twice that money or more?"
THAT SAYS IT ALL, CHARLES!
Post a Comment
<< Home