Steward Thinks De La Hoya Lost to Pacquiao Because of Weight – News
April 17th, 2009
By Jim Dower: According to an article from J. Michael Falgoust in the USA Today, boxing trainer Emanuel Steward feels that Oscar De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs) would have won his December 6th, 2008 bout with Manny Pacquiao if Oscar had come into the fight at a weight that was normal to him. Steward pointed out previously that as soon as he heard that De La Hoya didn’t gain any weight after the weigh-in, he knew that Oscar was going to lose the fight.
Immediately after the weigh-in, they’ll rehydrate and have a good meal to put back on the water weight that they lost. In De La Hoya’s case, he didn’t do this. Instead, he cut him down to the 147 pound weight limit by using a strict diet and then stayed that way for the fight.
In hindsight, it seemed like a bizarre thing to do for an experienced fighter like De La Hoya, who had fought professionally for 17 years going into his bout with Pacquiao. It seemed as if De La Hoya over thought the planning stages for the bout, working too hard on trying to make the weight and using the wrong method of taking off the poundage.
The result was that by fight time, De La Hoya was incredibly weak and was only able to fight hard for the 1st round. Pacquiao dominated the next seven rounds, giving De La Hoya a terrible beating and causing him to quit on his stool after the 8th round.
Steward thinks that De La Hoya will make a boxing comeback at some point, giving it a 60% chance according to Falgoust. Although De La Hoya said in his retirement ceremony last Tuesday that he can’t see himself coming back, but with big money bouts out there for him against fighters like Felix Trinidad, Roy Jones Jr. or even against Shane Mosley, it’s hard to imagine De La Hoya not coming back at some point.
Oscar loves the sport of boxing and wants to help it in any way possible, and by fighting one or two bouts against some of his old opponents, De La Hoya would be giving boxing a shot in the arm each time out. Let’s hope that if De La Hoya does come back, he doesn’t resort to any strict diets to make weight like last time out. He’s too good to make the same mistake twice.
Tags: 7 Responses to “Steward Thinks De La Hoya Lost to Pacquiao Because of Weight – News”
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Emanuel Steward is always unfair with his comments against Pacquiao. He is always trying to denigrade Pacman’s wins.
If Pacman will always prove you wrong on your analysis…you may lose your credibility.
Increasing power without loosing speed is the secret of the Pacman team. Old boxers mentality came into play when De La Hoya fought Pacman and he tried to bully him with his size but it didn’t work due to Pacman’s speed. I dont know why the boxing world can’t see that Pacman has changed the sport. Pacman’s win was not a fluke because in all his recent fights he made all his opponents look like an amateur. The fight lasted eight rounds but only De La Hoya showed a battered face. If you check out the images of Pacman after his last few fights he doesnt even look like he got into a fight specially in comparison to David Diaz and De la Hoya. De La Hoya is not a smart boxer for his recent comments. He said that if he fought Hatton in Dec 08. Hatton would have knocked him out. He doesn’t realise that Pacman does have a strong punch, he was just able and strong enough to take the punches. He even made Hatton believe that Pacmans punches we’re soft and Hatton believed him and was knocked out in two rounds as a result. Next time please Oscar DeLa Hoya keep your opinion to yourself because next time you open your mouth you will embarass yourself again like the lost you received from Pacman. Being in the sport for 17 years you’d think he’ll learn to accept losing honourably. Instead he makes up excuses – you stopped learning boxing when you became successful and that’s the difference when you fight a hard working dedicated fighter.
steward. as good as he is, can be wrong in his assumption. there can be other reason(s) for dela hoya’s demise. if dela hoya’s defeat was due to his weight then, he could have asked or requested a rematch. i honestly believe that he would not do it on the simple reason that he wants everybody to believe or wants anybody to entertain the idea that it was really his weight
that caused the problem. just imagine a scenario if he again losses a rematch fight with pq. what alibi could he gaved to the adoring fans? I think the weight issue is less humilating than the issue of ability. consequently, i do really believe that dela hoya wants hatton to win the fight over pq not only because of his financial interest on it but also, among other things, to making it appears that pq win over him was but a fluke.
Yes,theres no question that Oscar was not himself in the ring against pacman,but realy for Oscar a pro boxer for 17 years theres no excuse for him to even get into a situation like that.Oscar is fighting way to long to let something like this happen.
I respect the mans decision to retire but i wish he would have agreed to fight one last time to answer those questions about the weight for the pacman fight and also redeem himself.
Thank you Oscar,for all the great fight memories..
Your the best…
Felt robbed of what should of been a great fight. The so called bigger man came in the ring smaller than the so called smaller guy! madness!!!!
Yea this issue really disapointed me, had the potential to be a great fight
Yep there was a weight issue. Question is WHY?