There was a time when the only hottest news about boxing worth talking about was Mike Tyson's pitiful plan to become a porn star alongside (or on top of) Jeena Jameson. Boxing then was downgraded to becoming a Mike Tyson drama. Do you notice we don't have much TV programs dedicated to boxing nowadays anymore? Even prime cards don't cause as much stir as boxing did before. Mixed Martial Arts seemed to be trampling over boxing to become America's new favorite blood sport.
Enter the Pinoy Pride, Manny Pacquiao.
Manny Pacquiao fights were spectacular but, in a way, Pacquiao's being Asian and his opponents being South Americans, does not seem to connect much with ordinary American viewers. It's just like watching foreign movies with foreign actors.
Enter Oscar de la Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao fight on December 6, 2008
Oscar de la Hoya may be of Mexican descent but he is an American born in East Los Angeles California. He won the only gold in boxing for the United States in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. And he is going to exchange blows with today's hottest boxing item, pound for pound. Throw in a little bit of drama as de la Hoya swears to "avenge" all the Mexican boxing legends Manny Pacquiao fell, and you have the makings of a real blockbuster that is sure to make the Golden Boy's already overflowing wealth chest overflow some more.
However, unlike your usual staple of a boxing match, this talks about this fight is getting much more colourful and more heated as discussions are lead away from the merits of the fight to the merits (or demerits) of Oscar de la Hoya's choice of Pacquiao for his last fight in his boxing career.
A lot of hissing noise can be heard from those fuming about the match's being a mismatch. De la Hoya is 5'10" while Pacquiao is 5'6.6", and de la Hoya outweighs Pacquiao by 25 lbs. Add to this, de la Hoya is used to fighting bigger opponents in the 160 lbs level, while Pacquiao has never even officially weighed beyond 135 lbs in any fight.
These arguments about the fight's being lopsided are getting hotter on the sidelines.
Setting aside the match's being mismatched or not, the next question would about who will benefit from the weight catch-up/catch-down game. De la Hoya has a lot to lose and Pacquiao has a lot to gain-hey, we're talking about weight here.
On the other hand, it would seem that de la Hoya really have a lot to lose in the sense that he has all the advantages of size, weight and experience. De la Hoya's official fight records date back to 1992 when he TKO'd Lamar Williams in Inglewood, California. Manny Pacquiao, on the other hand, traces his first via a humble win by decision in 1995 against Edmund Enting Ignacio in Mindoro, Philippines.
If Pacquiao loses, he still wins. The adoring fans would surely understand a loss against a bigger fighter. He, however, gets more respect for the guts and still earn him to be the genuine Pinoy pride.
Possibly, he would get an equal amount of derision for his folly.
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