Las Vegas, NV (AHN) – WBC lightweight champion Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, who came up two weight classes to fight the biggest pursue of his career, left “Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya black and blue after eight rounds en route to a TKO win Saturday night.
The smaller Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 KO’s) destroyed De La Hoya’s (39-6, 20 KO’s) size and reach advantage by using speed and precision, pounding the former six-division champion.
De La Hoya’s left eye was swollen shut in his battered face as he declined to answer the bell of the ninth round.
The General Santos, Philippines native dominated the bout from the opening bell landing 224 of the total 585 punches thrown against the 83 connections out of 402 made by aging boxing legend.
In the seventh round alone, Pacquiao unloaded 45 power punches to just four for the 35-year-old former Barcelona Olympic gold medalist.
It was a record number of scoring punches made in single round in a De La Hoya bout.
The 29-year-old Pacquiao started strong and landed clean straight left shots, beating De La Hoya’s defense and his vaunted jab.
De La Hoya then launched a brief flurry in the fifth round, but it was all Pacquiao in the next three rounds.
Pacquiao was ahead in all three scorecards before the stoppage, with two judges scoring the bout a shutout through eight rounds.
A battered De La Hoya, who dropped down to fight for the first time at 147 pounds in seven years, was taken to a hospital afterwards for a precautionary examination.
The drop in the weight, together with the age factor, affected De La Hoya, who entered the ring at a surprising 147 pounds, while tipping 145 during the weigh-in Friday.
Pacquiao will earn a guaranteed $1.1 million, but most importantly he firms up his hold as the sport’s pound-for-pound king.
The Golden Boy is expected to make at least twice the amount after the pay-per-view revenues have been accounted.
