Oscar De La Hoya is a great American story.
He's made tens of millions of dollars in boxing and as owner of Golden Boy Promotions, he'll no doubt make more. Just not as a fighter.
Because Saturday night in Las Vegas, Manny Pacquiao completely destroyed De La Hoya. The smaller and younger Pacquiao was faster, quicker, busier and simply landed more punches. After the 8th round, the referee went to De La Hoya's corner and conferred with his trainers then told Oscar, "if you can't defend yourself, I'm going to stop the fight." Fifteen seconds later, De La Hoya walked meekly across the ring to congratulate Pacquiao as the fight was stopped.
I've seen De La Hoya fight many times, but this was my first time to watch Pacquiao. Presently, Pacquiao holds that coveted title of "the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world." De La Hoya once had it, as did Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones Jr. and most recently Floyd Mayweather, before his retirement.
Now, it's Pacquiao's. And it fits like, well, a glove.
Pacquiao started fighting at 106 pounds and his more natural weight is probably 130. He jumped two weight classes to meet De La Hoya at the welterweight maximum of 147 pounds, weighing in at 142. De La Hoya, on the other hand, is a natural welterweight at 147, but he's been fighting at 154-160 pounds since 2001, so he hasn't been this light in seven or eight years.
Though De La Hoya was the bigger man, to me, his face appeared drawn and his frame thin. Though he gave away four inches of height to De La Hoya, Pacquiao seemed more stout, compact and thicker in the arms and legs.
On top of that, Pacquiao's style also presented problems for De La Hoya. "Pac Man," as Pacquiao is called, fights southpaw, meaning he leads with his right, which is unconventional. A southpaw fighter is like a left-handed pitcher facing left-handed hitters. The southpaw, like the lefty pitcher, has the advantage. The conventional fighter relies on timing to counter punches coming from another conventional fighter. But if the opponent is southpaw, that right hand is much closer and comes a beat sooner than you're used to.
And if that southpaw is a puncher or attacks relentlessly, as Pac Man does, then the result is what you saw Saturday night, if you paid the 50 bucks.
From the opening round, Pacquiao beat De La Hoya to the punch. Initially, Pac Man, darted in and out, careful of De La Hoya's power and reach. But by round 3, it was evident De La Hoya had neither the reaction, timing or the power to hurt Pac Man.
So the Filipino champion moved in for the kill.
The result for De La Hoya was ugly and sad; for Pac Man, devastating and business like.
Unfortunately for Pacquiao, he doesn't have the movie star looks, name recognition or charisma of De La Hoya to attract sustained
pay-per-view paydays over his career.
But I'd pony up if he managed to draw out Floyd "Money" Mayweather from retirement.
Ding. Ding.
