Pacquiao came up two weight classes to fight De La Hoya and raised his record to (48-3-2, 36 knockouts).
De La Hoya (39-6) dropped down to meet him at 147 pounds.
Many boxing insiders, myself included, felt it was a mis-match. That was right. But in reverse. David slayed Goliath. Pacquiao was too quick, too skilled, too quickly into his game plan for De La Hoya to even feature as a challenge.
“The media, the press is never wrong,” Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum said after the fight. “You all said it was a mismatch, and it was a mismatch.”
Freddie Roach, moreover, with his ‘No Win, No Fee’ statement from Pacquiao’s corner, was also on the button.
Roach had said that De La Hoya is no longer capable of ‘pulling the trigger’.
How right did that look as De La Hoya, flat-footed, moved one-dimensionally, his reflexes and speed shot, being dismantled as if he were a novice. We saw it with Roy Jones Jnr. De La Hoya should not come back again.
He has been too great a fighter to expose himself anymore. On this evidence, De La Hoya may also have been a simpler opponent to exploit by the rejuvenated Ricky Hatton than many might have thought.
“Freddie, you’re right,” De La Hoya told Pacquiao’s trainer after the fight. “I just don’t have it anymore.”
If De La Hoya ends here, it is a career worth recalling in all its glory, from Olympic gold medal in Barcelona in 1992, to 10-time world champion, to becoming the most glittering box office attraction in the sport.
De La Hoya, with his Golden Boy Promotions company, has also become the most powerful promoter in the US.
His next move will be crucial for the future of boxing, with the biggest American boxing star ending his career before us.
