60 – 40

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

BY THE time you read this, the much-awaited and much touted megabuck fight between legendary boxers Oscar de la Hoya and our very own boxing icon Manny Pacquiao is just less than a week to go. The battle, dubbed as the “Dream Match” will be held on December 7 (Philippine time) at MGM Grand in Las Vegas Nevada.

Since three months ago, when this mega fight was officially set by Golden Boy Promotions of De La Hoya and Top Rank of Bob Arum, our national dailies have been printing prognosis from world renowned boxing experts like Angelo Dundee, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Julio Cesar Chavez, and Floyd Mayweather Sr. as well as Al Mendoza on the local side, to name a few.

But the most vocal has been Pacquiao’s trainer, the flamboyant Freddie Roach, who has been perennially stating that his ward will surely win citing many reasons – his latest, Pacman will be victorious by way of knockout. Roach doesn’t see the brawl ending any other way but via knockout. He did not say what round but said most likely in the last few rounds.

It’s hard to believe him because odds makers in the gambling city Las Vegas say De La Hoya is the 8-5 favorite to beat the Kibawe, Bukidnon-born (not Gen. Santos City as previously stated) Pacquiao.

But it could be his ruse to intimidate the De La Hoya camp and the citizens opposed to his lad. It could also be a ploy to give the fight more market value, especially for pay-per-view audience.

He’s entitled to it.

I’m an avid fan of these two world warriors. De La Hoya, since he won the gold medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, and Pacquiao, when he knocked out three-time world champion Lehlo Ledwaba from Soweto, South Africa in 6th round to wrest the International Boxing Federation (IBF) super bantamweight crown.

Experience wise, De La Hoya has the superior edge. Before turning pro in 1992 and eventually capturing six world crowns in different weight categories, he had an amateur mark of 223 wins and 5 losses with 163 knockouts, bagging the National Golden Gloves bantamweight tiara in 1989 and the U.S. featherweight diadem in 1990.

His card in pro boxing reads 39 victories and 5 losses with 30 knockouts. His most unforgettable and devastating loss was at the hands of Bernard Hopkins bowing via 9th round knockout on Sept. 18, 2004.

On the other hand, Pacquiao has an amateur record of 60 wins and 4 losses.

Born on December 17, 1978, he held world titles in four weight divisions since December 4, 1998 when he stopped the feared Thailand knockout artist Chatchai Sasakul in the seventh round to win the World Boxing Council (WBC) flyweight title. It was followed by the IBF junior featherweight, the WBC super featherweight and the latest, the WBC lightweight. He’s the only Asian pugilist to accomplish this feat.

We all knew that these two ring superstars would eventually clash given their fame. And majority of the Filipino boxing aficionados are picking Pacman to win, by decision or by knockout, contradicting Las Vegas prediction.

I can’t blame them. Pacman is at the peak of his career. He’s young, has the tremendous speed, punching power in both hands, shown good improvement in his right hook, strong and very experienced against top caliber boxers. But his agility might cave in having had no tune up fight in the 147-pound division.

On the De La Hoya side, he has the four-inch advantage in height and five-inch in reach and these will be his aces during the fight, enough to intimidate and outmaneuver Pacman. He’s more experienced but admittedly slower than Pacman.

A natural 160 pounds boxer, the aging De La Hoya, 35, could eventually feel drained out during the encounter because he has to lose 13 pounds to meet the 147 pounds limit.

But despite this, I will go for the Las Vegas odds makers. It’s 60-40 for De La Hoya. That’s my fearless forecast.

And for sure, win or lose, my belly will be full of beer after the clash. Cheers.

(Readers may reach columnist at biking.jess@yahoo.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/sports-eye/
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