Can Manny Pacquiao Pull Off the Upset?!?
By: Danny Serratelli
Oscar De la hoya has fought as high as 160 as a professional and Manny Pacquiao has fought at as low as 106. When you see the men standing next to each other it is clear that they are not the same size. Manny Pacquiao has grown into a 130 pounder over the years and he handled the best 130 pound fighters in the world. He recently moved up to 135, and at the time it seemed that everyone was unsure how the transition would impact Mannys ring dominance. It seemed to have little ill effect as he battered David Diaz over 9 rounds and eventually stopped Diaz in round number 9.
Diaz was heard complaining in the corner of Manny’s speed, however he also made it clear that it wasn’t the power in the punches but the speed, and likely the fact that he then wasn’t seeing them all coming that led to the end of that fight. Manny Pacquiao seemed to lack some of his regular power, but he seemed faster at the new weight. After one fight at 135, Manny is now moving up not one more, but 2 weight classes to 147 to take on “The Golden Boy” Oscar De la hoya.
On the other end of the spectrum, De la hoya is coming back down to 147. The last time he has fought at a light that low was back in 2001 against Arturo Gatti, when he weighed in at 146 in his first fight back after his controversial second loss to Shane Mosley. Conventional wisdom says that Oscar De la hoya will handle Pacquaio easily. In fact on paper he should handle Pacquaio easier than the the odds that De la hoya is favored by would suggest. The majority of the educated opinions and boxing insiders favor De la hoya to win without a problem by mid to late round stoppage or if Manny is lucky an easy unanimous decision for Oscar.
The x factor here is desire, heart, will and straight up balls. Manny has no chance unless he can handle the bigger mans power, especially considering that De la hoyas power hand is up front in his left jab and left hook. Manny will have to get past the jab and use speedy combinations and somehow manage to impose his will on Oscar. He will also have to get Oscars respect. I know first hand that there is a big difference in being in the ring with a bigger stronger fighter versus a smaller physically weaker opponent, Manny will be fighting an uphill battle when it comes to that. Manny will not have any problems with conditioning, Oscar might. There is a chance Oscar will be a beast at 147, and there is a chance that his inactivity and his attempt to come back down to 147 may hurt him in the late rounds. That is when Manny can turn the tide in a in which fight I expect him to get beaten in badly in the early rounds aftter a little feeling out process.
Manny will start to win some rounds by the mid way point in the fight and will have to turn the fight into a war. Pacquaio always fights like a like a hungry fighter because he has a big heart and is always giving out money so he always need more, Oscar has no concerns financially and he sometimes tries to be too smart and hurts himself in fights. Many cliche’s can apply here, a good big man will always beat a good smaller man, but also its not the size of the dog in the fight, its the size of the fight in the dog. Despite the size I don’t think anyone will argue that Paquaio has more fight in him. If De la hoya is ready to go to war, he wins an easy decision or possibly a late round TKO, but if Oscar’s game plan, heart, mind or body doesn’t want it 100%, then Manny will turn the tide late in the fight and gut out a hard fought close decision.
Pacquiao by split decision.