De La Hoya Looking Towards Paul Williams As Final Opponent — Boxing News

By Eric Thomas: With the talks with Manny Pacquiao still going nowhere and stuck in a standoff, Oscar De La Hoya is reportedly looking at taking on WBO welterweight champion Paul Williams (34-1, 25 KOs) for De La Hoya’s final fight of his career on December 6th. However, it’s hard to take this boxing news serious because Williams, 27, is probably the best welterweight in the division, and who already holds a win over Antonio Margarito, the fighter that De La Hoya has shown no interest at all in fighting and who many boxing fans feel that De La Hoya is afraid of.

Williams, a tall, 6’2″ fighter with an high work rate, would be a very dangerous opponent for a fighter as old and as inactive as De La Hoya has been in the past five years. Frankly, I can’t see this fight turning out any different for De La Hoya than a fight with Margarito would, because De La Hoya won’t be able to match-up with the huge size of Williams, and he surely won’t be able to hold him off with his jabs and left hook.

De La Hoya’s weapons are relics from the past, and would have no effect on the bigger and better skilled Williams, who probably would have made easy work of a prime De La Hoya just as easy as the old, faded 35 year-old. I think De La Hoya is using William’s name to try and get Pacquiaio to agree to the fight at a lesser amount than he wants, because it seems highly unlikely that De La Hoya would want to tangle with a fighter as tough as Williams.

It would be a great fight, though, especially if you were into watching De La Hoya get mopped around the canvas again and again. He wouldn’t win one round and would take a ferocious beating by Williams, the kind that De La Hoya would likely remember for the rest of his days. However, De La Hoya isn’t the type to let himself get beaten badly, so unless I miss my guess, he would drop for the 10 count long before his beating got really severe, probably by another weak body shot.

At least with body shots, there’s a little less shame in losing than in getting hit hard in the head. A fight against Williams won’t bring in big PPV numbers, however, because Williams is still not a really big name at this point and doesn’t have a huge fan following at this early stage of his career. He still needs a 2-3 three years before he gets to that stage and he needs another popular opponent, someone like Miguel Cotto or a second fight with Margarito, before Williams can get to the level where he needs to be to become a big PPV attractions.

This is why I’m sure that De La Hoya won’t fight him, because not only will he not bring in the big money and interest with boxing fans that De La Hoya is looking for, but he is also much too dangerous for De La Hoya, who would like to go out on a winning note rather than an embarrassing thumping at the hands of Williams. Against a fighter like him, De La Hoya has zero chance of winning and would be cashing out on a losing note.

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