NO LESS than the famous Oscar De La Hoya picks Manny Pacquiao to prevail over Erik Morales in their March 19 showdown at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
“I like Pacquiao,” said De La Hoya, who heads the Golden Boy Promotions which promotes former Pacquiao victim and now World Boxing Council super featherweight king Marco Antonio Barrera.
A former world champion in six divisions, De La Hoya announced his choice of the reigning Ring Magazine featherweight Pacquiao as the likely winner over Morales in an interview on Boxingtalk yesterday.
Pacquiao had stopped Barrera in the 11th round of their eagerly awaited encounter in November 2003 with Barrera bouncing back from that setback to inflict a majority decision win over Morales in their third career meeting also in November last year.
Former world bantamweight and featherweight champion Luisito Espinosa suffered yet another humbling setback Saturday, absorbing a third-round knockout loss to Mexican Cristobal Cruz at the Stockton Memorial Civic Auditorium in Stockton, California.
Espinosa, now 37, was knocked down late in the first of the 10-round fight before Cruz put him away for good in the third with a left hook. The Filipino also lost by TKO in his last fight in July last year.
There were earlier reports that De La Hoya, a former Olympic boxing champion, was so impressed by Pacquiao’s talent he had wanted to also bring the Filipino champion under his promotional wing.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao’s new manager Shelly Finkel announced that Nedal Hussein, an old foe of the Filipino, will be arriving from Australia next week to serve as sparmate of the people’s featherweight champion as he steps up his training at the Wild Card gym in Los Angeles.
Pacquiao and Hussein fought on Oct. 14, 2000 with the Filipino southpaw prevailing on a controversial 10th round technical knockout win.
Reportedly, Pacquiao’s sparmate Sugar Beltran has been rendered out of commission from the blows he received while sparring with the Filipino hero in the last two weeks.
Another sparmate, International Boxing Federation super bantam champ Israel Vasquez, was deemed “too small” for Pacquiao, who needs heftier sparmates as he will be moving up in weight against Morales.
De La Hoya’s choice of Pacquiao came weeks after Games and Amusements Board boxing division chief Emmanuel Flores had predicted a win for the Filipino by knockout on or before the eighth round, a belief shared by Games and Amusement Board chair Eric Buhain.
