Boston ? Most were stunned at the outcome of last Saturday?s Manny Pacquiao ? Oscar De Le Hoya welterweight fight. Not only did Pacquiao win, but he dominated en route to a TKO when De La Hoya quit on his stool following the 8th round.
Perhaps none were more stunned than Massachusetts state boxing commissioner Dan Fitzgerald. Prior to the bout, Fitzgerald spoke out against the fight because he felt Pacquiao would have an insurmountable disadvantage in size against the naturally larger De La Hoya.
He told boxingherald.com in September, ?From a purely objective standpoint, I wouldn?t even want to see the fight except for pure curiosity much like you drive by an accident scene; you?d want to know what had happened. But if you sat me in the front row I would cringe at every jab and every punch that De La Hoya would throw because it?s going to hurt more than any punch that Pacquiao?s ever been hit with.?
On Saturday, Pacquiao didn?t get hit by much.
?I knew that Pacquiao would box as he did when he stepped up in weight to fight David Diaz. I just didn’t think he’d be that successful at it with an opponent like De La Hoya at an even higher weight.? Fitzgerald said in an email to 8 count news.
Pacquiao began his career at 106 pounds and prior to last Saturday?s fight, the heaviest he weighed in at was 135 pounds for his lightweight title winning effort against David Diaz. De La Hoya began his career at 133 pounds and fought as high as 160 pounds, winning a middleweight title in 2004.
De La Hoya weighed in for the fight at 145 pounds, 2 pounds under the contracted welterweight limit on the day before the two stepped into the ring. A number that was surprisingly low considering De La Hoya had been fighting at 154 pounds mostly for the last 6 years. Prior to Saturday, he last fought in the 147 pound welterweight division in 2001.
Even more surprising was that on fight night, HBO reported De La Hoya weighing 147 pounds, gaining just 2 pounds from the weigh-in the day before. On the contrary, Pacquiao weighed in at 148 ? pounds on fight night according to HBO.
While many were concerned for Pacquiao?s safety against a larger man, he in fact, weighed more than De La Hoya on fight night.
?When I heard the weights the night of the fight, I expected Pacquiao to have a much better chance than I first thought. I had fully expected De La Hoya to put on at least ten pounds from the weigh-in to the fight. When Pacquiao actually weighed more than De La Hoya at the fight, just as Emanuel Steward had stated, I got all confused.?, said Fitzgerald.
He wasn?t the only one who thought the fight wouldn?t be competitive. Yahoo.com?s Kevin Iole, The Ring Magazine?s Bill Dettloff, and many more expressed their opinion that the fight would be a mismatch.
Ironically, it was.
However, not the way everyone expected it to be.
Pacquiao used superior speed to tee off on De La Hoya all night. The 7th round was so embarrassing for De La Hoya that Pacquiao won a 10-8 round without even scoring a knockdown. He did however land 45 power shots in that frame according to compubox. De La Hoya hardly fired back and was an almost stationary target accepting the blows.
Fitzgerald summed up the consensus point of view following Saturday night?s beatdown by saying, ?What a performance.?
Mark Saturday?s fight down for upset for upset of the year and all hail Pacquiao, for he will be awarded as the fighter of the year.
