De La Hoya and Pacquiao Kick off the “Dream Match” at the Statue of Liberty

BY: Rick Assad - After what transpired between Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya inside the ring at the MGM Grand Garden Arena this Saturday night, it became apparent to the 15,001 fans in attendance and those watching on pay-per-view, the Golden Boy has likely fought for the final time.

The relentless pounding that Pacquiao rendered over eight rounds during their non-title welterweight match, and the manner in which De La Hoya left the ring, his only decision can be “no mas.” Anything else would be futile.

“I was able to defend his jab,” said Pacquiao, considered the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world.”I was connecting with everything. He was connecting with nothing. Speed was the answer to this fight.”

Once great and formidable, the 35-year-old De La Hoya looked old, out-of-shape and tired when trainer Nacho Beristan called a halt to the fight prior to the ninth round. De La Hoya’s left eye was practically closed, and his face looked pained.

“I stopped the fight because I didn’t want him to leave his greatness in the ring,” said Beristan.”Oscar was in good condition, but he couldn’t control Manny’s southpaw stance or style. He wasn’t able to stop him. He just didn’t seem to have the strength tonight.”

The beating De La Hoya absorbed, especially in the seventh round, should tell the one-time Olympic gold medal champion that his time is over.

“I am not shocked because at this stage, when you face someone like Manny Pacquiao, you know you are going to be in a fight,” De La Hoya said. “I worked and trained really hard for this fight, but as I have told everyone, it is a totally different story when you get in the ring.”

De La Hoya went on: “My style is to go forward, but he was boxing on his toes all night and waiting for me to make my mistake. I just didn’t have the strength to stop him and my body did not respond.”

Don’t feel too sorry for the 10-time world champ in four weight divisions. With Golden Boy Promotions the industry leader, the company will be solvent for years to come.

The same, however, couldn’t be said for De La Hoya, who landed 21 percent of his punches (83 of 402), 13 percent of his jabs (32 of 238), 31 percent of his power punches (51 of 164), and was taken to a local hospital as a precaution after suffering the worst loss in his distinguished 17-year-career.

Then again, the last few years haven’t been kind to De La Hoya (39-6-0 and 30 knockouts), who once had brilliant hand speed and extraordinary footwork.

In May at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, De La Hoya won a unanimous decision over lightly-regarded Steve Forbes.

Despite that, after the fight, De La Hoya had obvious puffiness around his eyes. He even looked slow, and couldn’t floor the heavy underdog.

Mind you, this was against Forbes, who would never be compared to a world-class fighter like Pacquiao (48-3-2 and 36 KO’s).

A year earlier at the same MGM Grand Garden ring, De La Hoya had a close bout with undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr., for the World Boxing Council super welterweight belt, but walked away losing a split decision.

That night, De La Hoya started quickly, winning four or perhaps five of the first six rounds, only to fade in the second half.

On Saturday, after eight rounds, Judges Dave Moretti and Adalaide Byrd each had Pacquiao ahead, 80-71, while Stanley Christodoulou favored Pacquiao, 79-72. Diamondboxing.com. scored the bout in favor of Pacquiao, 78-73.

This time, from the opening bell, the quicker and better-conditioned Pacquiao, who has held world titles in four weight classes, was the aggressor, throwing stiff right-hand jabs, followed by darting lefts that continued to find De La Hoya’s face and midsection.

Covering the final three rounds, the 29-year-old Pacquiao connected with 97 punches, while De La Hoya answered with 21.

The seventh round was the tipping point, as Pacquiao, the Filipino hero, threw head and body shots seemingly at will, and had De La Hoya in the corner over much of the three minutes. It wasn’t until the final 30 seconds or so that the East Los Angeles-native answered with his own material.

Over the course of eight rounds, Pacquiao, who landed 38 percent of his punches (224 of 585), 59 percent of his power punches (195 of 333), and 12 percent of his jabs (29 of 252), minimized De La Hoya’s four-inch height and five-inch reach advantage.

These numbers, and De La Hoya’s 20 percent bigger body size, enlisted him a 2-to-1 opening-line favorite. The line dropped significantly in the days prior to the fight.

In retrospect, the younger and faster boxer prevailed. Anyone who saw Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard at the end of their Hall of Fame careers can vouch for this.

Or as Babe Ruth, baseball’s one-time home run king put it at the close of his brilliant career: “Getting old is hell.” De La Hoya knows that feeling.

FULL DREAM MATCH JOURNEY STARTING WITH THEIR TAKE OFF FROM HOUSTON 

 

 

 

  

  

 

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Diamond Boxing presents the month of October in review: 

Upset of the Month – Hopkins over Pavlik

When you reflect back on the month of October, definitely your first thought would be how the ageless wonder Bernard Hopkins upset the younger Kelly Pavlik. Actually Hopkins went beyond expectations he dominated Pavlik round after round Hopkins schooled Pavlik in the art of boxing. Hopkins was quicker especially with his hand speed, was first to land and demonstrated a variety of different punches. Hopkins blooded Pavlik who required stitches afterwards, Hopkins even landed a windmill styled right as he toyed with Pavlik towards the end of the bout.

It was pure one sided even the judges agreed scoring unanimously the decision for Hopkins, one judge Alan Rubinstein gave all the rounds to Hopkins while the other two judges had Hopkins winning 118 -108 and 117-109. When you look back at the final punch stats they coincide with the scoring Hopkins landed 32% of his punches while Pavlik landed at a measly 23%. The power shot results also reflected the mere dominance of Hopkins who connected at a 49% rate compared to Pavlik’s 26%. At the end of the bout Hopkins glared into the media section staring at his critics who doubted he could beat the undefeated Pavlik. Hopkins now has his sights set on Roy Jones Jr.and for now on we are sure all the media will not overlook the ageless wonder Bernard Hopkins.

The Next Pound 4 Pound Champ – Dawson over Tarver

Featured on October 11th was “Bad” Chad Dawson against Antonio Tarver in a light heavy weight battle from Vegas for Tarver’s IBF belt. Once again it was young against old, Dawson is only 26 while Tarver is 13 years his senior at 39. This one was a one sided match as Dawson took the action to Tarver who was on the defense all night. Dawson was classified by Floyd Mayweather Jr. who was in attendance as the number one pound for pound champ in the world lived up to Mayweather’s expectations. Dawson demonstrated his combination of speed and power throughout the bout and was able to drop Tarver in  the twelve with a solid uppercut. Dawson went on to record a unanimous decision victory.  

Lame Duck of the Month – Klitschko over Peter

In October we had to endure many one sided matches but no other was more difficult to watch than the Vitali Klitschko – Samuel Peter heavyweight showdown from Berlin, Germany. Klitschko coming back after a four year layoff and looking capture the WBC Title. Klitscko is the older brother of WBO, IBF and IBO champion Wladimir, a win by Vitali would allow the Klitscko to reach their dream of holding championship belts at the same time. Vitali delivered and from the opening bell there was no doubt that he was prepared and in great shape. Klitscko started early plucking away at Peter and landing at will. Peter who was on the defense all night, finally gave up after the eighth round and did not come out for the ninth. Vitali was declared the winner by TKO and the brotherly celebration began. The most excitement in this one came the way of the pre-fight ceremonies with the Pussycat Dolls performing and former heavyweight champions Holyfield, Forman, Tyson, Frazier and Lewis presenting Klitscko with supporting messages via video.

 

 

The Controversy of the Month– Bute over Andrade

The month did not pass without controversy in a bout broadcasted live on Showtime, Canadian fan favorite Lucian Bute survived a last second knockdown by the hands of Librado Andrade. Through eleven rounds Bute fighting in his hometown executed a solid game plan and dominated Andrade. With a significant lead going into the twelve and final round Bute simply had to stay out of arms way from rugged Andrade. Going into the twelve Andrade knew only one way to get a victory was by knockout. Andrade stalked Bute throughout the twelve round, continuously moving forward and snapping solid blows onto the face of Bute who made the mistake of trying to end the fight in impressive fashion.

With several seconds remaining in the final round Andrade hurt his prey, Bute was staggered by several solid blows, driving him backwards onto the canvas. This was the first time in his career Bute was knocked down. Referee Marlon Wright seemed to pickup the knockdown count very late, he began counting several seconds after Bute hit the canvas. As Wright began to count Bute out, he suddenly turned to Andrade and warned him to stay in the neutral corner allowing several more seconds of recovery time for Bute. After all was said and done twenty five seconds passed and Bute finally arose with Wright only on a six count. As Bute appeared unable to continue the final bell rang, saving Bute and his perfect record. Bute went on to receive a unanimous decision from the judges winning on all three of the judges cards by the scores of 115-110,112-109 and 115-111.Afterwards Andrade said “He was completely out””I did not come out of the corner”. So once again controversy rules over a championship fight.

British Star of the Month – Thaxton over Melero Diaz 

October has been an interesting month for British boxing with some great bouts and extremely interesting developments, the star of the month belongs to Jon Thaxton (34-8-0).Thaxton won the vacant Lightweight European Title in explosive fashion against Juan Carlos Melero Diaz (36-1-0). Thaxton disposed of his opponent with a KO in 2:29 of the 3rd after a spectacular right hook from an unorthodox stance connected beautifully sending Melero Diaz down for the count. The shot came out of nowhere showing why Amir Khan is staying well clear of Thaxton. With this fantastic performance by thirty-four year old Thaxton we are declaring him our British Boxing Star of the Month,

The Bling of the Ring – Scoops and News

Oscar De La Hoya – Announced his new training team which includes Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain and The Legendary Angelo Dundee as a special consultant as he prepares for his December 6th show down with Manny Pacquiao.

It is now official that Amir Khan (18-1-0) will return to the ring for a bout against tough opponent Oisin Fagan (22-5-0) on Saturday 6th December at the ExCel Arena London without his new trainer Freddie Roach as it clashes with the mega fight between Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya.

The Worlds worst boxer Peter Buckley retires after winning his first bout since 2002. On October 31^st Buckley who has 257 loses won in Birmingham, England his last bout before retiring. Buckley ends his career with a record of 31-257-12.

Cruiserweight now heavyweight David Haye finally announced his opponent for his heavyweight debut scheduled for November 15^th.Haye will take on American Monte Barrett.

Also it has been made official that Hennessy Sports have offered Joe Calzaghe £5million to fight Carl Froch early next year in Cardiff.First Calzaghe needs to get by Roy Jones Jr. on November 8th.

World Amateur Lightweight World Champion Frankie Gavin is turning professional with Frank Warren at the start of November and will be trained by Anthony Farnell with his professional debut likely to be in February 2009.

More great features can be found on http://www.diamondboxing.com/