BetUS Sportsbook customers who enjoy making a wager on boxing every once in a while will have an opportunity on Saturday night to see one of the top spectacles in recent years, as Oscar De La Hoya, the sport’s top drawing card, returns to the ring as he takes on another fan favorite, the dynamic Manny Pacquiao. The bout, which is to take place at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, is scheduled for 12 rounds and is a non-title bout in the welterweight division.
Here are the sports betting odds on the fight, as they are posted at BetUS Sportsbook:
Las Vegas — December 6
Welterweightsodd
OSCAR DE LA HOYA -200
MANNY PACQUIAO +160
OVER 9.5 ROUNDS -190
UNDER 9.5 ROUNDS +155
Fight Outcome
De La Hoya by KO TKO or Disqualification +140
De La Hoya by Decision or Technical Decision +170
Pacquiao by KO TKO or Disqualification +600
Pacquiao by Decision or Technical Decision +300
Draw or Technical Draw +2000
MORE ABOUT OSCAR
* De La Hoya’s weight in his pro debut was 133 pounds. His lowest recorded weight was 128-3/4 pounds, when he won his first world title over Jimmy Bredahl (WBO 130).
* De La Hoya’s last weight was 150 pounds. His heaviest was 160 pounds, when he defeated Felix Sturm for the WBO middleweight title.
* De La Hoya has fought just once in the last 12 months and three times in the last 36 months.
* Of De La Hoya’s 30 knockouts, 18 of them (60%) have taken place in the first four rounds of fights. Only four of them (13.3%) have occurred in rounds 9-12
* De La Hoya has gone to the 12th round on twelve different occasions in his pro career.
* De La Hoya has won championships in six different weight divisions in his career: Super Featherweight/Jr. Lightweight (130 pounds), Lightweight (135), Super Lightweight/Jr. Welterweight (140), Welterweight (147), Super Welterweight/Jr. Middleweight (154) and Middleweight (160).
* De La Hoya’s record in the welterweight division is 10-2 with 7 KO’s.
* De La Hoya has fought against 23 different fighters who have been recognized as world champions. He has beaten 19 of them, losing to Shane Mosley, Bernard Hopkins, Felix Trinidad and Floyd Mayweather.
* Of De La Hoya’s 44 career fights, 29 of them have been for a world title. He is 24-5 with 17 KO’s in those bouts. The fight with Pacquiao is not a championship fight, though it is scheduled for 12 rounds.
MORE ABOUT MANNY
* Many of Pacquiao’s “mega-fights” have not been for world titles. He has only engaged in eleven world championship contests, encompassing 66 rounds. In those fights, he has a record of 8-1-2 with seven KO’s. The only loss in a world title fight was a third-round KO suffered at the hands of Medgoen Singsurat back in September of 1999.
* Pacquiao has held recognized world titles at Flyweight (112 pounds), Super Bantamweight/Jr. Featherweight (122), Super Featherweight/Jr. Lightweight (130) and Lightweight (135).
* His first championship was won ten years ago, at 112 pounds, as he beat Chatchai Sasakul in Thailand.
* Pacquiao first fought in the pros at 106 pounds, in 1995. His last weight was 134.5 pounds, for the fight against David Diaz.
* Pacquiao has fought eight times in Las Vegas. His record there is 6-1-1 with four KO’s.
* In the last 36 months, Pacquiao has fought seven times. In the last 12 months, he has fought twice.
* Of Pacquiao’s 35 knockout wins, 22 of them (62.9%) have taken place in the first four rounds. Only four of them (11.4%) happened in rounds 9-12.
THE FINAL ANALYSIS
It has often been said that in boxing, a good big man will beat a good little man. I’m not sure that’s always true, but it may be here. I must admit surprise when Manny Pacquaio made one more jump in weight, climbing into the lightweight division to stop David Diaz. I felt he was stretching it going up that high, and truth be told, Diaz, while a good fighter, is not the fighter Oscar De La Hoya is. Now Pacquiao moves up TWO more weight classes, and he is going up against someone who has competed at the world-class level even two classes higher than THAT. I’m talking about De La Hoya, who has campaigned as a middleweight.
Not that his experience at 160 pounds means much from an offensive standpoint, since Oscar won’t be able to carry those pounds into the ring, but the point is that De La Hoya has been able to take punches from guys at 154 and 160. I doubt that someone like Pacquiao, who is more natural between 126-130, is going to hurt him.
On the other hand, I can not imagine that De La Hoya will NOT hurt Pacquiao if he hits him. Can you? The challenge will be hitting Pacquiao square, but really, Pacquiao has never been particularly hard to find. If he gets close enough to score points for himself, that is going to bring him into range for Oscar to land punches on him. And that is a very likely scenario.
Let’s go back to Oscar not being able to “carry those pounds” into the ring. That is, and isn’t, the case. Sure, this fight is not being fought at the middleweight limit, but since these weigh-ins always take place early, there is a good chance he’ll be close to 160 pounds when he gets into the ring, since at 5’10-1/2″, he has the frame to support it. As for Pacquiao, if this guy is more than 154 pounds on fight night he’s out of shape.
De La Hoya says he is very comfortable at welterweight. And if that’s true, it’s good news, since he has probably been at his best in this division. To me, and many others, he’s been more of a fish out of water at junior middleweight or middleweight. As long as he’s not straining himself to get there, more power to him.
There are plenty of people in boxing who don’t give Pacquiao a ghost of a chance. the feeling is that this is a rather low-risk way to get a big payday for De La Hoya, who is one of the top businessmen ever to lace up gloves. I recently ran into Lou DiBella, promoter for Jermaine Taylor, Paul Malignaggi, et al, in Las Vegas, and he can’t get past the idea that this is a complete joke. He’s not alone.
Well, I give Pacquiao a lot of credit, and I could completely count him out of anything. Still, when putting the size difference into perspective, and assuming De La Hoya is not the classic “shot” fighter all of a sudden, I can’t help but look at these sports betting odds as something that presents value. I like De La Hoya at the -200 price in the BetUS boxing odds, and in reading some of the comments of Angelo Dundee, who is in the De La Hoya camp and says Oscar is going to win by decision, that might give something of a hint as to what the De La Hoya game plan might be here. That is, to take the KO if it comes, but not force anything. This guy knows exactly what he’s getting into.
JAY’S PLAYS: DE LA HOYA TO WIN (-200) **** and DE LA HOYA BY DECISION (+170) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)
