MANILA, Philippines?Not so welcome news from Big Bear City, California, was this one that says Oscar de la Hoya has rediscovered he?s a natural welterweight, 147 pounds, the stipulated limit for his monumental clash with Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao.
That means there will be no significant shift in the odds?Pacquiao will remain the awful underdog?as the Dec. 6 ?Dream Match? at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas draws near.
De La Hoya, who captured titles in heavier divisions, decided to train again after six years at Big Bear and, in the process, realized the joys and rewards of trimming down to his favorite weight class.
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Another unwelcome news was this bulletin from Ronnie Nathanielsz who, after a phone talk with trainer Freddie Roach, was informed that Pacquiao had his worst sparring at Wild Card Gym on Friday.
?He just kept getting hit, (and) Roach said he could not sleep the night before,? Nathanielsz said.
Let?s shrug it off and pray it was just another off day for the Pacman.
Well, late as this may come, the claim by trainer cum laude Angelo Dundee that Pacquiao stands no chance against De la Hoya must be disproved and stopped.
So claims lawyer Romulo Makalintal, boxing devotee and election code authority.
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Tracing victorious underdogs, Makcalintal swears Dundee must?ve forgotten that day in February 1965 when one of the biggest upsets in world boxing happened.
Muhammad Ali, a 7-1 underdog still known as Cassius Clay and handled by Dundee, shook the world by outpunching and stopping the burly, menacing Sonny Liston, the defending world heavyweight king.
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Traces Makalintal, the only visitor granted a two-hour audience by Ali in 1975, when The Greatest beat Joe Frazier here: ?Not one among the 11 living former world heavyweight champs regarded Clay as a worthy challenger to Liston. Only James Braddock, who said it was going to be tough on Clay in the first five rounds with Liston swinging, saw the possibility of Clay surviving and later outmaneuvering the indestructible Ugly Bear.?
Underdog Clay stopped Liston in the seventh round.
Pacquiao will knock out the heavily favored De La Hoya in the ninth, predicts Roach.
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Concludes Makalintal: ?Our very own Manny Pacquio, with new techniques, improved strategy, will once again show his speed, power and determination to upset De La Hoya and bring added pride and honor to our country.?
All told, the best we can say is that the Pacquiao-De La Hoya fight definitely doesn?t have the makings of a mismatch.
More than his speed and power, there?s always Pacquiao?s big heart to carry him through the fiercest, severest battles.
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Anyway, one clear victim of a mismatch was Dodong Donaire, father and former trainer of world flyweight champion Nonito Donaire Jr.
The poor father has flown back to Cebu after a breakup with his son, the world champion who had a so-so second defense of his 112 lb crown recently.
Dodong Donaire was savaged by his son in a recent interview.
?Di na lang ako magsalita. Maski anong mangyari, anak ko siya (I?ll just keep quiet, after all he?ll always be my son, no matter what,? Donaire Sr. told North Cotabato Vice Gov. Manny Pi?ol.
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?Hindi siguro ako model father pero ginawa ko ang lahat para makarating siya sa kanyang narating ngayon (I may not be a model father, yes, but I did my best and gave everything for him to become a champion),? Donaire Sr. added.
Pi?ol, who was caught in the crossfire of the quarrel, said the father has left a job in the United States which paid $3,000 a month and, in the process, forfeited his retirement benefits for his son?s career.
Says Pi?ol: ?In the case of Manny Pacquiao, his father abandoned him when he was still a small boy. But when Pacquiao became a champion, he took in his father and introduced him to the world. Imperfect as the father may have been, he gave Pacquiao the gift of life.
?Junjun Donaire should take time to be with Pacquiao more often to learn the secrets to becoming a great champ and hero to his people.?
