Many people including myself believed that the size of Oscar De La Hoya would play a big role against the smaller Manny Pacquiao but Size didn’t matter in Las Vegas Saturday night, but speed certainly did. You all said it was a mismatch and it was a mismatch.
Manny Pacquiao not only defeated Oscar De La Hoya but also battered him into retirement with a shockingly one-sided victory in their welterweight bout before 15,001 at the MGM Grand Garden.
It was clear by the third round that De La Hoya was going to need a miracle to reverse the pummeling he was taking. Pacquiao displayed every punch in the arsenal, raking the Golden Boy with straight lefts that nearly closed De La Hoya’s left eye and stunning him with hooks, jabs and uppercuts. De La Hoya came out shooting across the ring throwing a big right hand. Pacquiao countered, with a left jab-straight-right landing each punch, “Pac Man” who switched from southpaw to orthodox early and often.
Pacquiao’s signature straight left again tagged De La Hoya as ringside observer Juan Manuel Marquez surely watched in disgust as the punch that put him down thrice in his first meeting with.
Pacquiao was now giving De La Hoya fits. De La Hoya came forward again attempting to work the body, but missing every time.
Pacquiao continued to break away with speed tagging, De La Hoya with a straight-left right-jab combination and a swift “get out the way” side step. Double right-jab, straight. It was so savage of a beating that it was hard not to feel sorry for De La Hoya. Pacquiao was never threatened by De La Hoya’s vaunted left hook, negating De La Hoya’s best chance of winning the fight.
Having torn through a total of nine weight divisions since his first bout Pacquiao sat in his corner awaiting the ninth stanza only to see a thoroughly beaten De La Hoya leave his stool and cross the ring during the break to congratulate him as Tony Weeks waved off the bout.
Bob Arum said he wouldn’t discuss a potential opponent for Pacquiao until after the holidays, but it’s clear he’s sitting on a gold mine. Fights against Mayweather, if he comes out of retirement, and Ricky Hatton are going to be massive events that would likely guarantee each men eight-figure paydays.
One thing is clear Oscar De La Hoya is now the past. It’s Pacquiao’s time now.
Photos by Ethan Miller/Getty Images