LAS VEGAS – The Pride of the Philippines Manny Pacquiao’s light continues to burn bright, while The Golden Boy’s Oscar De La Hoya’s dims, possibly blown out.
In front of a raucous sold-out crowd of 15,001 at the MGM Grand Arena, the 29-year-old Pacquiao truly showed he’s the pound for pound king of this era.
The World Boxing Council (WBC) Lightweight Champion Pacquiao jumped two weight classes to defeat the 35-year-old De La Hoya by technical knockout in the eighth round.
“Like I said before, the speed will be the key of this fight,” said Pacquiao. “After the first round, I wasn’t confidant. I’m still careful [with De La Hoya]. I thought he was waiting for the big shot and counterpunch. After the second round, when the bell rang, I think I [hurt] him [but] I’m still not confidant. [I thought] maybe he’s looking for the one shot [knockout].”
That one shot from De La Hoya never came as Pacquiao ducked, weaved and bobbed in-and-out from his opponent all night long.
Throughout the night, Pacquiao beat De La Hoya to the punch. Using fancy footwork, ring generalship and a straight left cross that kept rocking De La Hoya’s head like a bobble head doll, Pacquiao dominated the fight.
Leading up to the fight, many were skeptical about “The Dream Match.” Pacquiao was the overwhelmingly smaller boxer having to jump from Lightweight (135-pounds) to the 147-pound welterweight limit to face off against the naturally bigger De La Hoya, who had fought as heavy as 160-pounds.
But speed was the great equalizer.
It seemed evident especially in the first round when the speedy Pacquiao landed a flush left cross to the head, in between the gloves of De La Hoya, that it would be a long night for the former 10-time-World Champion.
The left cross to De La Hoya’s head and punishing right hooks to the mid-section landed frequently throughout the night for Pacquiao. With De La Hoya having to drop down in a weight that he hadn’t fought in six years, the game plan was to attack the body, according to Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach.
“That was the key,” said Roach. “The body shots killed Oscar. We wanted to fight in the middle of the ring and use Manny’s speed as his advantage.”
The only time Pacquiao was in trouble was during the fifth round when De La Hoya grabbed Pacquiao’s head and threw two left hooks – one landing on the chin and another to the forehead. Pacquiao responded by throwing up both arms and seeming to say ‘is that it?”
In the final minute of the seventh round, Pacquiao took control of the fight. Pacquiao relentlessly pursued De La Hoya, trapped him at a corner and landed a flurry of combinations hurting the Golden Boy.
“That’s when I knew it was over,” said Roach. “His wife, Millie, was yelling to stop the fight from her ringside seat.”
Pacquiao continued the momentum from the previous round. He trapped De La Hoya several times, landing punishing combinations to De La Hoya’s head and body.
By the eighth round, De La Hoya’s corner had enough. Referee Tony Weeks signaled the fight over as De La Hoya walked toward the middle of the ring and greeted Pacquiao with a generous hug.
“I stopped the fight because it’s my job to save my fighter from taking any more punishment,” said Ignacio Beristain, De La Hoya’s trainer. “There was nothing else we could do to Manny Pacquiao. I had to do it.”
All three ringside judges scored the bout overwhelmingly in favor of Pacquiao.
According to CompuBox, Pacquiao threw 585 punches in the bout, connecting on 224, while landing 195 power punches.
De La Hoya threw 402 punches but only landed 83 shots.
It was obvious, De La Hoya wanted to control the speedy Pacquiao with the jab. He threw 238 jabs but only successfully landed 32 of them.
“Pacquiao is a great fighter,” said De La Hoya before he was sent to the hospital for precautionary measures. “He was the better man tonight. He deserves all the accolades and everything he’s accomplished…He’s just a great fighter. I have nothing else to say about it. He deserves everything.”
When asked about whether this would be his last match, De La Hoya said that he’s going to take some time to think it over.
“I have to be smart and think about my future plans,” he said. “We’ll see what happens. I love this sport.” (www.asianjournal.com)
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