Dela Hoya vs Paquio at welterweight?

[korey1980]

This fight looks like it could very well happen. I think I'd rather see Manny try to conquer the lightweight division, but this fight would be huge. Oscar is (imo) way to big for Manny. Oscar is 5'11, Manny is like 5'5. Oscar by stoppage in earlier rounds. My reasoning is based on Manny liking to engage too much. With a much bigger man, and puncher like Oscar this would be suicidal. I know it would be the most money that Manny will ever make in a fight, but c'mon, this is a mismatch in every category.

[niwde787]

insane... klhg

[kcxiv]

Oscar did something similar when he went up to fight Hopkins and got his arse beat. He should have never done it, the guy was just way to big for him. It happens, they both got PAID.

[korey1980]

Oscar did something similar when he went up to fight Hopkins and got his arse beat. He should have never done it, the guy was just way to big for him. It happens, they both got PAID.

Right. This is a lose/lose situation for Manny, because even if Manny pulls off a huge upset, people will say it was Oscars final fight, and that he was past his prime. But a victory for Oscar would mean alot, because hes faught from 126-135(where Manny has been the king recently), and it would show everyone how dominant Oscar would still be in those weight classes. Its too bad Floyd didnt stay down at 130-140, because a fight with him and Manny wouldve been huge, and would pit the top two p4p fighters in the sport against each other, which wouldve been absolutely mouthwatering(imo).

[ray_glenn]

From a financial perspective, this could be one of the biggest fights of the past ten years or so. De La Hoya and Pacquiao are probably two of the biggest PPV draws in the sport right now.

As a fight fan, though, I wouldn't want it to happen. De La Hoya is just too big for Pacquiao. If there's one big-name welterweight that I think Pacquiao would be competitive fighting, it's Ricky Hatton at junior welterweight. Hatton is at least as big a PPV draw as Pacquiao, and the size differential isn't too great (Hatton is 5'7" compared to Pac-Man's 5'5"). THey're also a pair of crowd-pleasing sluggers who just might be the ones who can bring the sport of boxing back into the mainstream again.

[CircleChange11]

be the ones who can bring the sport of boxing back into the mainstream again.

Only a heavyweight can do that ... unless there is a division packed with mega-talented stars with dynamic draw capabilities, like Hagler, Hearns, Leonard, Duran.

Pac-Man and Oscar both have huge national/heritage followings, and they are both followed by general boxing fans also.

This fight, for the fighters, IMO is more about getting paid than it is for a legacy or anything like that.

We are seeing many fighters, including Pavlik, take fights just so they can get a big pay day.

[Charlie Murphy]

Just...meh

[Goodfella2279]

Stupid stupid fight for Manny. Yeah, the money would be great, but he's wayyyy too small. It's just too much weight and I've seen it happen before where a good lighter weight fighter goes up too many weight classes and gets starched. Manny wouldn't probably be as fast, his power definitely wouldn't carry, and he would eventually get taken out by Oscar. I do not want to see this fight. I would rather see Oscar fight someone around his weight class, such as a 2nd fight with Trinidad, etc. Margarito vs. De La Hoya would be interesting, but if Cotto cound't get the job done then I definitely don't see Oscar being able to withstand the constant pressure.

[AntDawg]

Lets not forget that Manny has a welterweight Body.

[ray_glenn]

Stupid stupid fight for Manny.

Well, there's a couple of ways you can look at the potential fight. On the one hand, it looks like a foolhardy decision... Pacquiao is too small for De La Hoya (Oscar has an almost 5 inch height and reach advantage) and there's a question of Pacquiao's power and speed carrying over two weight divisions. On the other hand, Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach has consistently said that he wants Manny to retire by early 2009 before his choice of career starts taking a toll on his body, and a fight with the retiring De La Hoya, no matter what the outcome, will probably be the biggest fight, financially, of his life.

With Margarito's thrashing of Cotto, I think De La Hoya will be that much more reluctant to fight Antonio, so if he wants to retire by year's end, Pacquiao might be DLH's only reasonable choice to get in a big-name fight that he is an odds-on favourite to win before he hangs up his gloves for good.

[payton#34]

I think some people may lose respect for Oscar if he chooses to fight the much smaller Pacquiao when he has the best welterweight in the game in Margarito calling him out. I think he's gotta fight Margarito or people are going to think he's a coward for fighting a guy that he has so many physical advantages over. He claims that he wants to go out with a bang, then fight Margarito. Can you imagine the respect Oscar would get by beating Margarito convincingly after what Margarito did to Cotto? Oscar has a chance to erase the Mayweather loss and beat the guy that Floyd ducked for years, and it's a fight that fight fans want to see, so Oscar should fight him. The funny thing is, as good as Margarito looked against Cotto, I think Oscar would beat him. Oscar has too much speed and smarts and Margarito won't have the size advantage over Oscar. I'm willing to bet that Oscar would decsion Margarito, but I'll ask sampsonthestrong just to be sure! That guy knows his boxing! LOL!

[korey1980]

Lets not forget that Manny has a welterweight Body.

Did he grow 5-6 inches overnight? That dude is 5'5 compared to 5'11 that Oscar and Margo sport. Pwill is 6'1 with and 82 inch reach. Does Manny still have a welterweights body?

[AntDawg]

Did he grow 5-6 inches overnight? That dude is 5'5 compared to 5'11 that Oscar and Margo sport. Pwill is 6'1 with and 82 inch reach. Does Manny still have a welterweights body?
Yea...The guy weighs in at 147 in his last fight and thats welterweight. Also Pacquiao is 5'6" 1/2

[korey1980]

Yea...The guy weighs in at 147 in his last fight and thats welterweight. Also Pacquiao is 5'6" 1/2

He fought at 135. You mean he weighed 147 on the night of the fight? If so, a real welterweight weighs 155 to 160 the night of the fight. Pacquiao height is still way to small in comparison to other welters, he will be crushed by Oscar or any other top welter. Dumb move for Manny(imo).

[Goodfella2279]

Good point Ray. The fight would be a big one financially for both fighters. I just think it's not a good competitive fight for Manny. Sort of like a David vs. Goliath type of thing. If they were closer in size and weight, then of course I'd love to see it. But the size and weight discrepency doesn't make for a competitive fight. It will probably be exciting, but may not last very long.

[AntDawg]

He fought at 135. You mean he weighed 147 on the night of the fight? If so, a real welterweight weighs 155 to 160 the night of the fight. Pacquiao height is still way to small in comparison to other welters, he will be crushed by Oscar or any other top welter. Dumb move for Manny(imo). Yea thats what I meant but you know he would gain even more weight after the fight so he would be like 150 something after a fight himself. Put it like this...he weights more than Mayweather.

[ellis3210]

manny will k.o him if they had a fight..

[korey1980]

manny will k.o him if they had a fight..

Keep dreaming. Oh wait, does Oscar have to fight off of his kness? That still might be a mismatch, actually.

[korey1980]

Yea thats what I meant but you know he would gain even more weight after the fight so he would be like 150 something after a fight himself. Put it like this...he weights more than Mayweather.

Manny is not Mayweather. Floyd was the most technically sound fighter in the sport and is ELUSIVE, Manny is a brawler, which is not a good thing when you are fighting naturally bigger/stronger men. Manny's come forwarding style will be a terrible style matchup against an Oscar. The only way he beats Oscar is if he changes his fighting style completely, which means he would have to become an elusive fighter, that fights off of his heels, which is just not Manny's style, and he CAN'T be changed that way.

[ray_glenn]

Manny is not Mayweather. Floyd was the most technically sound fighter in the sport and is ELUSIVE, Manny is a brawler, which is not a good thing when you are fighting naturally bigger/stronger men. Manny's come forwarding style will be a terrible style matchup against an Oscar. The only way he beats Oscar is if he changes his fighting style completely, which means he would have to become an elusive fighter, that fights off of his heels, which is just not Manny's style, and he CAN'T be changed that way.

Great points. I was reading a Freddie Roach interview though and he thinks that Manny can beat the older Oscar if he just plain swarms him early. Obviously, Roach is going to stand by his fighter, but at the same time, I don't think a trainer as experienced and as good as Roach would consider taking a fight that he thinks his fighter has absolutely no chance of winning.

Of course, this could all just be politics... it's not like anybody's signed any contracts yet and Sergei Mora is reportedly drawing interest from Oscar (I don't think Arum has even approached De La Hoya's camp to negotiate)... all the De La Hoya-Pacquiao rumours could just be a ploy to drive up the interest and the purse bid for next year's Hatton-Pacquiao fight (a fight that Pacquiao actually has a shot at winning, since they'll be fighting at junior welterweight and the size difference isn't too big).

[korey1980]

Great points. I was reading a Freddie Roach interview though and he thinks that Manny can beat the older Oscar if he just plain swarms him early. Obviously, Roach is going to stand by his fighter, but at the same time, I don't think a trainer as experienced and as good as Roach would consider taking a fight that he thinks his fighter has absolutely no chance of winning.

Of course, this could all just be politics... it's not like anybody's signed any contracts yet and Sergei Mora is reportedly drawing interest from Oscar (I don't think Arum has even approached De La Hoya's camp to negotiate)... all the De La Hoya-Pacquiao rumours could just be a ploy to drive up the interest and the purse bid for next year's Hatton-Pacquiao fight (a fight that Pacquiao actually has a shot at winning, since they'll be fighting at junior welterweight and the size difference isn't too big).

Agreed. Hatton would present Manny with a much better style mathup than Oscar, plus they are about the same size. I think the strength advantage would still go to Hatton, but Manny would definitely have many chances to test Hatton questionable chin. This would be an exciting fight, and Manny might actually find himself getting off of the canvas a few times. I think Hatton could win if he fights smart, but I think Manny will prevail.

[AntDawg]

Manny is not Mayweather. Floyd was the most technically sound fighter in the sport and is ELUSIVE, Manny is a brawler, which is not a good thing when you are fighting naturally bigger/stronger men. Manny's come forwarding style will be a terrible style matchup against an Oscar. The only way he beats Oscar is if he changes his fighting style completely, which means he would have to become an elusive fighter, that fights off of his heels, which is just not Manny's style, and he CAN'T be changed that way.

Lol I never said he was Mayweather I was just talking about weight :) . Manny seems to change every time he fights. Seems like hes fighting smarter...lets hope that continues. I think Manny has a good 3-4 more fights in him before he retires so he might as well go out with a bang in his last fights if he is gonna retire and go into politics.

[AntDawg]

Agreed. Hatton would present Manny with a much better style mathup than Oscar, plus they are about the same size. I think the strength advantage would still go to Hatton, but Manny would definitely have many chances to test Hatton questionable chin. This would be an exciting fight, and Manny might actually find himself getting off of the canvas a few times. I think Hatton could win if he fights smart, but I think Manny will prevail. Manny would most likely be the bigger guy and he has a good speed advantage on Hatton as well. If Manny just boxes Hatton it would be a easy win for Manny.

[korey1980]

Manny would most likely be the bigger guy and he has a good speed advantage on Hatton as well. If Manny just boxes Hatton it would be a easy win for Manny.

Hatton has a wider frame than Manny. He pushed around Kostya for 10 rounds before Tszyu quit on his stool. How would Manny have the size advantage?

[AntDawg]

Hatton has a wider frame than Manny. He pushed around Kostya for 10 rounds before Tszyu quit on his stool. How would Manny have the size advantage?
Mayeather was bigger than hatton and Pacquiao is bigger than Floyd. And are you talking about Hatton's last fight? Because he looked busted up in his last fight and the guy wasn't even a top fighter.

[ray_glenn]

The more I think about this happening (and apparently it is, the talks are going ahead at full-steam), the more it looks like a no-win situation for De La Hoya.

If Oscar wins the fight, folks will say that he was taking advantage of a much smaller fighter (one who has never fought above 135 lbs.) and padding his legacy, while at the same time avoiding legit welterweights and/or junior welters like Cotto, Mora, and Margarito. If he loses the fight, people will be crowing about how he lost to a much smaller fighter who's never fought above 135 lbs.

As for Pacquiao, in the unlikely event that he wins, he solidifies his status as the current p4p king. If he loses, his reputation won't take much of a hit (and he'll probably still be considering one of the top p4p guys) because he was game enough to fight a much larger and skilled opponent.

By picking a final fight where the odds are so obviously and heavily stacked in his favour, De La Hoya might end up doing more damage to his boxing legacy than if he had lost his final fight against a legit welterweight/junior welterweight.