De La Hoya picks Mayweather to defeat Pacquiao

By Boxing News - 05/01/2015 - Comments

1-Pacquiao_Mayweather_150429_008aBy Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya doesn’t have any vested interest in this Saturday’s mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, as he doesn’t promote either of these two superstar fighters for their fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

De La Hoya does have an opinion on the fight. He says his heart is with the 36-year-old Filipino Pacquiao, but his brain tells him that Mayweather will come out on top at the end.

Why De La Hoya’s heart is with Pacquiao is unclear? He’s been beaten by both fighters in the past, but for some reason he’s still pulling for Pacquiao to win the fight. It could be that De La Hoya sees Pacquiao as being the guy that will be still around the fight game in the future and he wants to make sure that he doesn’t burn any bridges to prevent him from matching some of his stars like former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez against Pacquiao in the future.

Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum has talked of wanting to have a fight between Pacquiao and Canelo in the future. However, Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach and adviser Michael Koncz has said that a catch-weight handicap would have to be involved in a fight of that nature in order for it to take place. Canelo would obviously have to melt down to a weight like 150 or so for it to be a feasible option, even though Pacquiao reportedly is weighing 150 for this Saturday’s fight against Mayweather.

“My head says Mayweather, but my heart goes with Pacquiao. Whoever wins, my ultimate hope is that the fight is exciting for the millions of fans tuning in,” De La Hoya said via Fightnews.com. They waited far too long for this match, and they deserve to see something dazzling in the ring.”

What De La Hoya is saying about his head telling him that Mayweather will be the guy that will be winning the fight is something that a lot of boxing fans are saying about this fight. They simply see Mayweather as the better fighter of the two, but they want Pacquiao to win because they like his exciting style. It’s like how a lot of fans enjoy the fighting style of sluggers like Marocs Maidana. They want him to win, but he often does but they still enjoy his fighting style.

“One week later, fans will get what they always get with Canelo — an action-packed fight against a fellow top contender in James Kirkland,” De La Hoya said. “I am hopeful and confident that this incredible week of boxing will attract a whole new wave of fans and catapult boxing back to a place of prominence among the world’s sports fans.”

The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight will definitely attract a great deal of new boxing fans to the sport. However, I don’t see the same thing happening between the Canelo vs. Kirkland fight a week later on May 9th at the Minute Maid Arena in Houston, Texas. That’s too much of a mismatch, as Kirkland is some guy that hasn’t fought in nearly two years, and he took off a bunch of weight for him to get ready for this fight. There isn’t a lot of buzz about the Canelo-Kirkland fight, and it looks like De La Hoya made a mistake in putting this fight together rather than putting the red-headed Canelo in with relevant fighters like the Charlo brothers, Erislandy Lara or Gennady Golovkin. By De La Hoya putting Canelo in with Kirkland, it gives some boxing fans the impression that De La Hoya is trying to protect his golden goose from the stiff completion that may give Canelo another loss.



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