SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA?When the victor?s hand is raised after the year?s most anticipated 12-rounder in boxing between Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao, the real winner will be: Ricky Hatton.
So says Bill Dwyre, former Los Angeles Times sports editor and now a leading columnist for California?s largest newspaper.
Hatton of England cemented his status as the best light welterweight on the planet Nov. 22 by disposing of Paulie Malignaggi at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Dwyre, in another one of his widely read advancers on the Dream Match, said the ?immediate future? after the match at the same venue this Saturday night ?may be many miles away.?
?Try London or Dubai,? he writes.
It will be London for a huge fight with Hatton at Wembley Stadium before an anticipated live gate of 100,000, if De La Hoya triumphs.
It will be Dubai, where there is a large Filipino community for a match with the Manchester Hitman should Pacquiao emerge the winner of the Dec. 6 bout at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds.
Says who? Says Richard Schaefer, De La Hoya?s chief executive officer in his Golden Boy Promotions and Bob Arum, Pacquiao?s promoter, according to the columnist.
?I guess we might all be finding ourselves in Hatton Wonderland pretty soon,? Dwyre quoted Schaefer as saying. Eschewing a De La Hoya retirement should his business partner win, Schaefer told the columnist: ?Oscar and Hatton in Wembley Stadium, 100,000 fans, may break an attendance record?now that would be a mega event.?
?Bob Arum, another huge player in the sport and Pacquiao?s promoter at Top Rank, sees the next big thing differently,? Dwyre wrote.
?Think of Pacquiao-Hatton. There is a large Filipino population in Dubai, and the biggest tourism comes from England,? Arum told Dwyre.
The Top Rank honcho said he just got back from a business trip in Dubai. He told Dwyre that because he was Pacquiao?s promoter, ?I got recognized as much there as Michael Jordan would in the States.?
A website for overseas Filipino workers in the United Arab Emirates says there are about 150,000 Pinoy expatriates there.
***
With all the name writers joining Pacquiao?s media retinue lately, one reporter who was among the first to recognize Manny?s potential as a heavier fighter has remained on the sidelines.
Until now.
John Whisler, a columnist for the Express-News in San Antonio, Texas was at the Alamodome in November 2003. That?s when Manny moved up in weight in his first fight ever as a featherweight and defeated Marco Antonio Barrera via TKO in the 11th round.
Whisler wrote a column the other day with a clear-cut prediction on De La Hoya-Pacquiao.
He prefaced his crystal ball pick by quoting the late great columnist Jim Murray: ?A good big man doesn?t always beat the good little man, but that?s the way to bet.?
Especially in this Saturday?s fight, he says.
His pick: Oscar by TKO in the seventh.
