Oscar DeLahoya Vs Manny Paicco (sp)

[Hardball]

O.K. boxing pros here's your chance to make a prediction and analysis before tommorow nights fight. Did you see the countdown on HBO? Answer the poll. The poll is private, no one can see your answer. Please discuss.

[Tom Yum]

Oscar still has it in him. Lots and lots of experience, smooth moves, the ability to overcome a knockout brawler. Still, Pacquiao is no brawler - but a talented boxer with power in both hands and is a southpaw I believe.

Its gonna be a great fight!!

[Hardball]

I've never seen Manny fight, I know him by reputation only. Oscar has pulled out all the stops preparing for this fight but I got to go with the youth. Manny is several years younger than Oscar thus I pick him to win by decision.

[treelizard]

de la Hoya by TKO

[Uke]

This is a shame, and DLH should be ashamed for it. Pacquiao who started out as a lt flyweight and a just a few years ago was a featherweight should NEVER be facing a man who was a contender for the middleweight crown.

This as a mockery of boxing. If Pacquiao wins it was a stunt ... and boxers from all over will be lining up to destroy this little man. Pacman isn't known for being a great boxer. He's known for being a tenacious puncher.

You put him in the ring against a man like Ricky Hatton or Miguel Cotto and its a wrap. Don't even mention guys like Paul Williams and Antonio Margarito who would literally kill him. And these men are smaller than DLH! I'm surprised that Freddy Roach agreed to train his fighter for this slaughter.

Oscar may be overhyped, but he's still an elite boxer who is naturally comfortable at welterweight and jr welterweight. Good god, man.

They might as well have put Pacquiao in with one of the Klitschko brothers.

[GQchris]

I agree, this is just some simple physics in play, I hope that Manny pulls it off though. But yeah, this isn't the type of fight that Oscar should be proud of, because he knows he's simply fighting a smaller guy.

[Uke]

I agree, this is just some simple physics in play, I hope that Manny pulls it off though. But yeah, this isn't the type of fight that Oscar should be proud of, because he knows he's simply fighting a smaller guy.

Kind of, GQchris.

Roy Jones was able to go up 27lbs and win. That was a prime RJJ though. He was a boxer, not just an energizer bunny type boxer. He had other skills than just punching.

Manny is very much a one dimensional fighter. I don't know that he possesses other skills and attributes that will give him an edge in this fight.

I want Manny to win as well. DLH has made a career and a legacy from beating guys no one ever thought would win, but losing in every major bout except the Quartey fight, which I believe was a robbery. That is why I usually root against DLH no matter the opponent.

[GQchris]

I did not expect the fight to go as it did. Oscar's size advantage was a non-factor.

[Uke]

I'm telling you GQchris, it was staged.

I NEVER liked DLH, but I give credit where its due. He's an elite fighter.

The only way Pacman could have beaten DLH was if he used speed.

DLH had to use his jab and his physical size to crowd and punish Pacman. The only way Pacman could have prevented that was to run and jab. He didn't have to because DLH stood in one place like a living target who occasionally threw a jab and mixed it up in spots.

DLH could have really hurt Pacman had he been relentless. He simply didn't try. I've been watching him box for years and I know what he would look like even if his usual game wasn't working. He didn't even attempt to use his usual game. DLH is seasoned enough to know that if a man has good movement you begin jabbing at the chest. He didn't even try.

When elite fighters lose, they either get caught with KO power, or they get out boxed. They don't get shut down to the point where they don't even attempt anything. They don't stand there like a sitting duck before even being hurt in the fight.

That's the problem with DLH still being a boxer. He's a promoter .. which means he's already corrupt, and him still boxing is a conflict of interests.

That fight was a sham and played out how I expected it to. I'd love to see Pacquiao try that against Hatton, Cotto, Clottey or Mayweather. They are all smaller than DLH and I'd bet that any of them could dismantle Pacman. They need to care about their careers because they aren't promoters like the Golden Boy.

[GQchris]

Mayweather didn't even mess up Oscar's face when they fought, and you think Mayweather would dismantle Pacman, lol.

[jubaji]

LOL! Some mighty fine preeeedictions here! I especially liked pUke emoting his ass off before the fight then trying as transparently as possible to cover his shame by crying "fix! fix!"

What an idiot. I only hope he had some money on the fight.

[GQchris]

agreed, LOL.. I'm sure Oscar purposely fixed it to tarnish his career by losing badly to a smaller man who has fought his career starting off as a flyweight.

[Hardball]

Uke, I have to disagree with you here. There's no way a man of DLH statue would agree to a staged fight. It was simply father time going against DLH. Once I watch the fight this saturday then I can make a more intelligent analysis.

[Tom Yum]

agreed, LOL.. I'm sure Oscar purposely fixed it to tarnish his career by losing badly to a smaller man who has fought his career starting off as a flyweight.

You mean he didn't?

I'm jonesin' to see this fight as well as Calzaghe vs. RJJ.

[Uke]

Riiight ...

Some one of DLH's stature wouldn't do that for tens of millions of dollars in order to ruin a career where he's been already been beaten and knocked out.

And I forgot that we have such big boxing fans here that they know what DLH can and has done in the past enough to be able to evaluate the situation.

Okay. Well, I've seen Pacquiao lose to much smaller and less skilled men that DLH. I've seen Pacquiao actually outboxed by one dimensional boxers who were lightweights. I've seen Pacquiao knocked out by flyweights before, but DLH, who is not speedy but by no measure slow, couldn't hit him once enough to hurt him? Hell even a fat and old George Foreman was able to land one punch!

And what makes this is obvious is that Manny himself is a one dimensional boxer, who only throws a jab, then another jab followed by a straight left. He may have had power at lightweight but that power did not translate to the power of a middleweight.

Oscar has taken much worse beating from Quartey, Mosley, Sturm, and Hopkins ... all heavier men who hit harder than Pacquiao yet couldn't put him away before the 9th?????

I could care less about predictions. I know boxing and I know that Manny Pacquiao, who once got beaten by freakin Erik Morales ain't going up to fight a middleweight and winning by standing right in front of him. Pacquiao stood right in front of a bigger, stronger and more pwerful puncher and traded with him throughout the fight without even having to move anything but his head. I've seen boxers who have much better evasive skills than Pacquiao like Forbes try that and DLH was able to handle that tactic.

I'm not going to get pulled into a war of words over it, as I'm sure more than half the people here didn't even see the fight. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but fixes aren't something uncommon in boxing. Especially when one fighter doesn't even attempt to fight in the manner that you have watched him over the last decade or so.

Even old, over-the-hill boxers try to fight and win like they have before regardless if it works at that point or not. DLH stood there, threw jabs that actually got countered by a man with significantly shorter reach(6 inches!) and barely if ever went to where he should have been punching all night: the body.

That's like saying that if Favre couldn't throw a ball 20 yards and no injury was ever reported, the press wouldn't accuse him of throwing the game. Even if every pass Favre threw got intercepted, it would be more acceptable than if he just appeared not to be able to throw a pass 20 yards. No one would believe it and everyone would say that they know that he's capable, washed up or not, of throwing accurate passes much, much longer than that.

Yet everyone here is typing that they believe that DLH couldn't close the distance, fire off at the body, land the longer jabs(6 inch difference), and withstand Paquiao's lightweight power when the majority of Pacquiao's punches didn't even land cleanly? I got news for you boxing fans. Paquiao wasn't sitting on his punches. In fact, Pacquiao was reaching to land most of the clean shots he did land, meaning that coupled with the fact that he was carrying lightweight power and DLH was often moving away from Manny's power, he wasn't really hurting DLH.

Yet DLH couldn't answer the bell for the 9th?!?!?!?!?!

Mayweather didn't even mess up Oscar's face when they fought, and you think Mayweather would dismantle Pacman, lol.

I don't even think Pacquiao could take Hatton or Clottey, let alone Mayweather. In fact, I don't think Pacquiao would be able to take a prime Arturo Gatti. The Gatti that fought Mickey Ward would be a huge problem for Manny. Styles make fights, and this is why the "One dimensional midget beating the tall & versatile middleweight" doesn't make sense in the game of boxing.

Boxing is a game of inches, and until you understand that you won't understand why this was a sham. A guy 5'6 only going after headshots with a man who is 5'11 means one thing and one thing only: The bigger man isn't throwing any offense that would make the smaller man hesitant about doing just about anything.

Hell, even Mike Tyson, arguably one of the most systematic and devastating punchers in boxing history, had to work and dodge his way inside before he could begin landing head shots against his opponents ... all of whom were taller than him and had a longer reach. He would kill the body to make the head fall, the method that most shorter boxer use to beat bigger, taller men. Mike would have had to otherwise leap in to land any real power shots to the head of his opponents who were 4-6 inches taller. Also, the reason Tyson was able to dodge most of the jabs that would definitely kept him on the outside was his phenomenal head and torso movement. Once he abandoned that practice we saw were his career went.

Yet Pacquiao is able to move his head a little bit and perfectly dodge everyone of DLH's punches and then effectively counterpunch? I would have believed it if Pacquiao had demonstrated a strategy that seemed like he was actually doing something to prevent DLH from trying to fight, but he wasn't. He was simply punching all night long because DLH's offense NEVER showed up. It wasn't a fight. A fight implies that two opposing forces keep trying to gain an advantage. DLH NEVER tried to gain an advanatge. He wasn't discouraged from trying. He simply just never really tried.

And for people to think that people of DLH's stature wouldn't throw a fight shows their own naitivity. If he wins he may win a couple of million. If he throws it despite being the favorite and makes himself and his partners over 100 million, what makes more sense? His legacy isn't important to him anymore because he's lost every important milestone match in his career. What is he going to lose by making a smart business decision?

Am I trying to convince any of you? Hell no. There's no prize to be won here by swaying anyone to agree with me. Believe what you want. I'm just giving my reasons for stating that a Pacquiao win would be a sham and facts that back it up.

Truthfully, if I did miss Brewer for any reason it would be because he actually did know his boxing.