Big Apple Bite: Manny Pacquiao & Oscar De La Hoya

Photo credit: Ed Mulholland/ Fightnews.com

The Dream Match: Pacman meets Golden Boy

Ring Magazine’s reigning pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao in an interview with ABS- CBN’s Dyan Castillejo confirmed that the megabuck fight with the Golden Boy Oscar De la Hoya is on with both sides finally agreeing to the division of spoils, ok prize money that once hindered the negotiations between two of boxing world’s biggest draw.

The scheduled December 6th fight will be De la Hoya’s farewell fight and Pacquiao’s biggest fight. The fight is pegged at a catch weight of 147 lbs. This will be Pacman's heaviest weight and De la Hoya's lightest in years.

I have some misgivings about this fight because on paper, Manny Pacquiao is in a disadvantaged position and the consensus underdog here since except for youth, De la Hoya has the edge in everything- experience, weight, height and reach. But I guess money talks in this case and so the fight with the popular and smaller Pacquiao will indeed pursue.

Frankly, I just lost my respect for Oscar as a fighter for taking this fight because for all of Pacquiao’s vaunted power and hand speed, this fight is not the fight that should even be considered to be his farewell fight. If he is man enough and wants to cement his legacy, he should fight Antonio Margarito instead.

I just hope that Manny will emerge from this fight unscathed considering that Oscar De la Hoya can really punch the lights out of him. So, I am keeping my fingers crossed that this will be a competitive fight and not a lopsided one.

Although I will be rooting for Manny to win, my head tells me to put my money on the Golden Boy. But who knows, Pacman will once again rise to the occasion and prove all the skeptics wrong.

And despite my misgivings, on fight night, I will still bet my hard-earned money on a Pacquiao victory. What the heck, I always root for the underdogs.

Good luck Manny.

Lethal Combination: Manny Pacquiao vs. David Diaz

It's Official!

Manny Pacquiao’s quest for boxing glory and history continues as he climbs in weight at 135 lbs to challenge the reigning WBC Lightweight Champion David Diaz for the latter’s belt on June 28, 2008 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao, the Filipino sensation won a hard- fought controversial split- decision over Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico and will try to annex his 2nd title for the year and if he emerges victorious against the very- technical Diaz will be the first Asian to be crowned champion in 4 separate weight division.

This is a fight where Manny Pacquiao will be the overwhelming favorite but a Diaz upset is not far- fetched since this will be the Pacman’s first fight at 135 and Diaz is a natural 135 and many are questioning his ability to adjust that quickly as well as whether he can bring his vaunted punching power against heavier fighters. Also under the rules of the Nevada Athletic Commission for fighters weighing 135 lbs and above, he will need to wear 10 oz “pillow” boxing gloves rather than the usual 8 oz “puncher’s” glove that he prefers which might affect his power in the end.

But Manny Pacquiao who first fought and became champion as a Light Flyweight and added two more belts in his climb to become a three division champion have defied the odds before and I’m confident that he can overcome whatever physical disadvantages that he has against David Diaz if only he will put his mind into it.


Tickets are priced at $600, $500, $400, $300, $200 and $100 and will be on sale on Saturday, April 19 at the Mandalay Box Office (Tel. No. 702- 632- 7580) and in its website as well as Ticketmaster (Tel. No. 702- 474- 400). HBO will also televise the fight live on pay-per-view.

Be the judge as we take a look of David Diaz boxing prowess as he eked out a controversial decision against Erik Morales in what many fight experts and fans alike believed that El Terrible won the fight but lost it in the scorecards.




Click on the link for the Full Fight-
David Diaz vs Erik Morales

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Featuring Manny Pacquiao, Maria Sharapova, Cristiano Ronaldo, Roger Federer, Liu Xiang and Kobe Bryant.

Done Deal: Manny Pacquiao dethrones Juan Manuel Marquez

Manny Pacquiao took Juan Manuel Marquez' belt via a split decision in a very close fight to become the new WBC Super Featherweight Champion of the world at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The three ringside judges scored the fight, 115-112, 114-113 for Pacquiao, and 115-112 for Marquez.

The fight was a classic one between two brave and determined warriors who battled from the first round until the end of the fight. It was a nip and tuck slugfest that gave the fans their money’s worth for the night.

The Champion won the first round but Pacquiao came back to win the second. In round three, the Filipino sensation decked Marquez who was stunned and looked wobbly but couldn’t finish him off as Marquez was saved by the bell. Manny Pacquiao took the 4th round with ease with vicious hard punches but again failed to finish the game champ.

Marquez' took the fifth and sixth rounds with his counter- punching prowess but the Pacman came back to take the seventh. Marquez’ best round was the eight when he rocked Pacquiao with power punches to the face. He failed to sustain his intensity though in the next round as Pacquiao peppered him with timely power hits. It was the same story with the 10th round as Pacquiao continued his assault with more telling blows to the face of his opponent.

However, the champion threw more punches and connected better than the challenger in the penultimate and last rounds to come back into contention that put more spice into the already intense and heated rivalry not only between the two seasoned pugilists but among their rabid supporters.

The split decision in favor of Manny Pacquiao drew loud protests from some quarters citing that Marquez was the better fighter statistics- wise as shown in the Compu-box scorecards but to me his edge in the punches thrown and landed over Manny Pacquiao was negated by the knockdown in the third round.

Also, to the uninitiated, I’d like to point out that the fight was scored on the basis of the fighter’s performance on a per round basis not on the total number of punches unleashed during the fight.

That’s why even if Marquez connected more punches in the fight especially in the 8th round when Pacquiao, bothered by the cut on his right eye preferred to just cruise rather than engage Marquez toe-to-toe, Manny still leads in the scorecards (he came back and won rounds 9 and 10 where he rocked Marquez several times with solid combinations to earn a three- points cushion) going into the last two rounds.

It should be duly noted that Marquez won the 11th and 12th rounds which make them both winning 6 rounds apiece of their unfinished business rematch in my card.

And by using the 10-9 Scoring System employed by the World Boxing Council and the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), Pacquiao won by a point in my book by virtue of his 10- 8 score when he dropped the defending champion to the canvass with a vicious left hook in the third round which proved to be the eventual difference in the fight.

Here's my score of the Fight...

Round 1: 10-9 Marquez
Round 2: 10-9 Pacquiao
Round 3: 10-8 Pacquiao
Round 4: 10-9 Pacquiao
Round 5: 10-9 Marquez
Round 6: 10-9 Marquez
Round 7: 10-9 Pacquiao
Round 8: 10-9 Marquez
Round 9: 10-9 Pacquiao
Round 10: 10- 9 Pacquiao
Round 11: 10- 9 Marquez
Round 12: 10- 9 Marquez


Here's a glimpse of the Awesome Fight--

Unfinished Business: Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez

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