Yesterday on my blog and on our 3 More Rounds page, I raised the question: Does Manny Pacquiao Have a Chance? I’m sure you know what I’m referring to, otherwise you probably got here on accident but I digress; Manny Pacquiao is the obvious underdog in his upcoming matchup with Oscar De La Hoya but just how big of an underdog should he be? Manny is currently heavier than Oscar, trumping the whole weight issue though Oscar still possesses the height , reach and power advantages (speed is likely Manny’s trump card). As the old adage goes, a good big man always beats a good little man, it’s safe to say the odds are in Oscar’s favor. But as I watched De La Hoya/Pacquiao 24/7 on HBO this past Sunday, some things started to swirl in my mind. First, Oscar, as was reported by our own Raymundo Dioses in his visit to Big Bear, was seen sporting a shiner, courtesy of his sparring sessions. There was that whole talk by Freddie Roach about Oscar getting “beat up” by Victor Ortiz who was suspiciously let go recently, as well as Roach’s comments this week about Oscar having trouble with 108-pound champ Ivan Calderon when they sparred earlier this year. You can chalk that up to Roach hyping up the fight and his own fighter but still, there’s some smoke to that fire. My other observation was in seeing how healthy Manny looks. Given the benefit of not having to shed an extra twelve pounds before a fight, Manny seems to be looking very comfortable at his weight which is said to be at 151 pounds right now.
