De La Hoya/Pacquiao analyisis at The Sweet Science
By Jim Murphy September 5th, 2008Our pugilistic associates over at THE SWEET SCIENCE have a good roundup of some expert opinion on the forthcoming De La Hoya/Pacquaio megafight:
“People are talking that Manny Pacquiao can beat me,” said De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs) during a telephone press conference call. “When Freddie Roach started saying, ‘Oscar can’t pull the trigger’ or ‘Manny Pacquiao, the fighter I trained can beat you,’ it started to become a challenge to me.”
De La Hoya the “Golden Boy” and Pacquiao the “Mexican destroyer” will meet on Dec. 6 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in what’s expected to sell out the MGM Garden Arena and bring in more than 1.5 million pay-per-views.
Pacquiao, who has risen from the 112-pound flyweight division as a champion to capture the world titles in the super bantamweight, junior lightweight and lightweight divisions, now faces a former pound for pound champion who is five inches taller and fights three divisions higher, a weight disparity of 19 pounds.
Both fighters have made concessions for the fight. De La Hoya is dropping down to 147 pounds and Pacquiao moving up. Both will fight with eight-ounce gloves, the glove weight Pacquiao normally uses. De La Hoya has been using 10-ounce gloves for eight years.
“I think I can beat De La Hoya especially after I saw his last performance on the last fight,” said Pacquiao (47-3-2, 35 KOs). “I think I’m faster and stronger than him and I’m younger.”
