When the reality a fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao seemed to be coming to fruition, I have to admit that I was skeptical. Especially once I learned that the fight would be contested at welterweight. De La Hoya hasn?t made the welterweight limit of 147 pounds nearly 8 years, and is naturally a good 15 to 20 lbs bigger than Pacquiao, not to mention a good 4 inches taller.
In June, Manny Pacquiao fought his first fight at 135 pounds and while he looked very impressive, there was some serious doubt before hand as to how effective he would be at lightweight, let alone welterweight. Nobody (aside from maybe Freddie Roach) would have taken seriously the possibility of him fighting Oscar De La Hoya before the Diaz bout.
Truth be told, Pacquiao?s name was thrust in the De La Hoya sweepstakes only after Oscar?s previous potential opponents fell through.
The original plan was for Oscar to fight Mayweather in a rematch of their 2007 fight, which was the highest grossing fight of all time. When Mayweather unexpectedly retired in May 2008, Oscar started looking towards a mega-fight with Miguel Cotto, provided Cotto won his July showdown with Antonio Margarito. We all know how that ended up, and all of the sudden Oscar was left scrambling to find an attractive opponent for his December ?farewell? fight.
Enter Manny Pacquiao.
Pacquiao had just cemented his claim as the world?s new No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the aftermath of Floyd Mayweather Jr.?s retirement with his nine round destruction of David Diaz. He is also one of the most popular and marketable fighters in the world.
On paper at least, a De La Hoya-Pacquiao fight would be a massive event and would surely go down as the biggest fight of the year. However, these were two fighters who, until this year, had never fought within 25 pounds of each other at any time in their respective careers.
Pacquiao started his career at 107 pounds, and has only had one fight at 135 pounds. De La Hoya has fought as high as 160 pounds and hasn?t made welterweight in nearly 8 years, a time when Pacquiao was still fighting at super bantamweight. The last time De La Hoya fought at 135 pounds was in 1995, 13 years ago.
However, an amazing thing has happened since this fight was formally announced a few weeks ago. People seem to be taking it seriously, and Pacquiao?s team aren?t the only ones who are giving him a serious chance of upsetting Oscar De La Hoya.
Pacquiao?s trainer, Freddie Roach, has stated to FightFan.com several times over the last year that he would welcome a De La Hoya fight if it was ever offered. After training De La Hoya for Mayweather Jr. last year, Freddie must have noticed something that made him like his man?s chances against Oscar. He has been vocal about De La Hoya no longer being able to ?pull the trigger,? and he knows better than anybody what Pacquiao is capable of accomplishing in the ring.
We?re now just over a month out from the fight and reports are that Manny Pacquiao has been holding the higher weight rather well. He is reportedly carrying 150 pounds on his trademark chiseled physique, and has adjusted well to the height and size of sparring partners Amir Kahn and Rashad Holloway and is now in top form after some shaky moments in the early few days of camp. From all accounts Pacquiao seems to be taking this fight very seriously and is very confident in his chances at pulling a massive upset in December.
De La Hoya?s camp has been mostly off limits, save for a few announcements here and there about who is helping get the ?Golden Boy? ready for the Pacquiao bout. When Floyd Mayweather Sr. decided to work with Ricky Hatton a few weeks before De La Hoya announced his decision to Pacquiao, Oscar was left scrambling to find a new trainer. What better candidate than the guy who trainerdJuan Manuel Marquez to take Pacquiao to his limits twice, Nacho Berestein. Highly touted prospect Victor Ortiz was also brought on board as a sparring partner and Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer has stated several times that De La Hoya is looking tremendous in training and he is going to punish and knock out Manny Pacquiao.
However, last week De La Hoya also announced that he has brought in legendary trainer Angelo Dundee to consult with him during his preparations. Dundee?s experiences training Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard can?t possibly burt in getting Oscar ready for Pacquiao, but it makes one wonder if Oscar thinks that this fight is going to be a lot tougher than many boxing insiders seemed to think it should be.
Has Oscar got himself into a situation that is looking a lot more dangerous than he anticipated? Maybe he IS having trouble pulling the trigger, or maybe, just maybe, he realizes that Pacquiao is no walkover and he will need to be at his absolute best to have a chance against the Filipino phenom come December 6, 2008.
Pacquiao may be fighting an uphill battle, albeit a battle he is eager to fight, but the 36 year old De La Hoya is also fighting against the clock. If Pacquiao is able to carry his speed and power into the welterweight division and De La Hoya?s age make him that much more vulnerable to getting hit, the ?Dream Match? could turn out to be exactly the kind of fight to end the year with a bang.
And it would have come a long way from the mismatch that it was first made out to be.
