Foresight is looking ahead. Retrospect is taking a look at the past.
Prior to Manny Pacquiao?s December 2008 welterweight fight with Oscar De La Hoya, people looked at that fight as a blatant mismatch with the naturally larger De La Hoya being too big & strong for the much smaller Pacquiao, who was jumping two weight classes simply for the opportunity to fight De La Hoya.
In retrospect, De La Hoya was old and dehydrated on fight night. He had no legs and was susceptible to everything Pacquiao threw at him. Pacquiao was on the way up. De La Hoya was on his way down. Pacquiao won via 8th round TKO after De La Hoya quit on his stool to avoid further punishment.
The foresight heading into Pacquiao?s May 2009 bout with then junior welterweight champion Ricky Hatton was that perhaps the De La Hoya victory was a fluke. There was a school of thought out there that Pacquiao had fought De La Hoya at the right moment and a younger, presumably fresher, Hatton in his natural 140 pound weight class would be too much for Pacquiao. Even if you didn?t buy into that train of thought, everyone thought Pacquiao ? Hatton would be a competitive fight. In retrospect, it wasn?t.
Pacquiao knocked Hatton down twice in the opening round and just when it looked like Hatton was going to survive the 2nd round without hitting the canvas, Pacquiao blasted him with a straight left hand that left Hatton sprawled out and dazed on the canvas. Pacquiao earned himself a 2nd round KO. In November of 2009, Pacquiao fought Miguel Cotto for a welterweight title.
Holyfield vs Williams can be seen in the Philippines at 10AM Sunday morning on online pay per view.
How would Pacquiao do against a natural welterweight close to his prime? Could Pacquiao?s speed and power carry him to a win over a ?live body? at that weight class? These were questions people were asking about this fight.
The answers were yes, yes and yes.
Pacquiao ? Cotto was competitive for 4 rounds, and then it became a wipeout. Pacquiao stopped a backpedaling Cotto in the 11th round to earn himself a welterweight title. In Pacquiao?s two most recent fights, against Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito, he was expected to win and do so convincingly. He did each time.
However, there doubters. Would Clottey prove to be too durable a welterweight for Pacquiao? Would Margarito be too big? The answers were no and no.
Foresight has often been wrong in regards to Pacquiao fights. And now as people look ahead to Pacquiao?s May showdown with Shane Mosley, there is vocal opposition to the fight who feel that it?s a blatant mismatch and Pacquiao will treat the older Mosley like a bobble head for 12 rounds. However, foresight is sometimes wrong. That?s why we watch.
