Did Oscar de la Hoya throw the fight against Manny Pacquiao?
According to veteran sportswriter Al Mendoza, de la Hoya’s lackluster performance against the Pacman fell far short of the “Golden Boy’s” usual caliber and is raising doubts that the Mexican champ had no intention of winning the fight.
“If Pacquiao went into that fight prepared to win, de la Hoya went in prepared to lose. [De la Hoya] won championships in six weight divisions and a gold medal in the Olympics but last Saturday, he didn’t turn in an Oscar award-winning performance. He could have won an Oscar award for not fighting,” Mendoza told radio dzMM.
“He didn’t look like the Golden Boy. More like the Olden Boy,” he added.
Asked if he thought if de la Hoya had deliberately lost the match, he said: “Kung dederechuhin natin, parang benta (If we want straight talk, it’s like he sold the match).”
He also echoed the words of sports columnist Jimmy Cannon who once wrote: “Boxing is the red-light district of sports.”
Mendoza, who rooted for de la Hoya before the fight, said Pacquiao threw 333 punches in the fight of which 59 percent found its mark. On the other hand, de la Hoya threw about 164 bombs but less than half hit the Pinoy boxer.
He said de la Hoya’s performance was so listless that the referee could have warned the Mexican as early as the sixth round that the fight would not
