Gary Morgan, a friend of the Neutral Corner, caught up with former world featherweight champion Juan Laporte and they talked about the upcoming welterweight fight between Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya. Laporte was featherweight champion from 1982 to 1984 and fought some of the greatest names in boxing. Salvador Sanchez, Julio Cesar Chavez, Wilfredo Gomez, Barry McGuigan and Azumah Nelson make up a partial list of those with whom Juan swapped leather.
Here is what Morgan reports that the former champ said about Pacquiao-De La Hoya:
“I was surprised when I heard the announcement of the fight. It was a shock to me. What concerns me is that Pacquiao will be jumping from featherweight/lightweight to welterweight. Pac Man will gain no more power and it will slow him down. He was much stronger then the guys he fought in his weight class. When he fights a bigger man the power that he had will not be so effective. Oscar will have the advantage in size, reach, experience and boxing ability.
“Oscar is confortable as a welterweight so it will work to his advantage. Oscar will be happy with the victory and probably will go on to fight one or two more fights. Pacquiao will be disappointed, but will have a big smile on his face with the money he makes. What concerns me is that this is not a big battle for Pacquiao. Pac Man needs to fight the up-and-comers in his division to solidify his reputation as one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters. In this era, when fighters take the easy road, their reputations and respect as great fighters seem to disappear. The fans respect him for his greatness as one of the best little guys, however, when he goes to another division he loses the respect of being one of the great featherweights of all time. I wish that he was around in my time because we would have fought and it would have been a great fight.”
