While Oscar De La Hoya scored some of his most memorable victories at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the 17,000-plus seat venue also played host to three of his five losses and Manny Pacquiao plans to hand the Golden Boy his fourth there on Dec. 6.
De La Hoya holds a 39-5-0 win-loss-draw record with 30 knockouts and three defeats were dealt by Shane Mosley, Bernard Hopkins and Floyd Mayweather at the Grand Garden Arena, while the two others ? also to Mosley in their first fight and to Felix Trinidad of Puerto Rico ? took place elsewhere.
After losing a split decision to Mosley in 2000 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, De La Hoya tried to go for payback but he was denied again on a unanimous verdict in Sept. 2003.
Then it was the turn of Hopkins to take the spotlight at the MGM Grand when he knocked out De La Hoya with a single body shot in September the following year of their middleweight battle before Mayweather inflicted his third setback there in May last year.
All in all, De La Hoya has fought 11 times at the MGM Grand, scoring victories over marquee names such as Javier Castillejo of Spain, Felix Sturm of Germany and Ricardo Mayorga of Nicaragua.
In contrast, Pacquiao has mixed results at the MGM Grand, having racked up 1-1-1 win-loss-draw.
After a splashing debut on US soil in June 2003 with a sixth-round stoppage of Lehlo Ledwaba of South Africa, Pacquiao settled for a 12-round draw with Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico in May 2004.
In his last appearance there, Pacquiao lost to Erik Morales for the first time in March 2005.
Pacquiao will come in the heavy underdog in the scheduled 12-rounder that will be fought at the welterweight class of 147 lbs using eight oz gloves.
Top Rank boss Bob Arum disclosed that his mobile phone and his office number kept on ringing shortly after the formal announcement was made last week.
“The response to this fight is unbelievable,” said Arum, who will be staging the blockbuster brawl in partnership with De La Hoya?s Golden Boy Promotions.
