By Simon Hirst: Manny Pacquaio produced one of the finest displays of his career in beating ‘the bigger man’ in Oscar De La Hoya. His speed, the way key and the tactics were perfect in a fight that surely has ended ‘The Golden Boy’s career. It proved two things, firstly that Pacquaio is both the best pound for pound fighter in the world right now and secondly, that De La Hoya cannot fight at the very highest anymore.
Pacquaio had been 2-1 to beat De La Hoya, absolute crazy odds and I certainly took advantage winner twenty pounds. Pacquaio was very sensible in his training methods. He did not attempt to make the 147 mark; he was simply over the light welterweight limit at 142. This meant he could keep his power and speed and this allowed him to train at such weight, rather than focus on putting weight on. On the other hand, De La Hoya had been walking around the welterweight weight for a few weeks before the fight, but perhaps he took the weight off too quickly and therefore it hampered his preparation. I really don’t know where he goes from this loss apart from retire. Top quality opposition will beat him and there’s no money in fighting bums so it seems logical he will now retire.
Moving on to the winner, Pacquaio said he was interested in a fight with Ricky Hatton, stating he’ll ‘fight anyone, anywhere’. I just worry that people are dismissing Ricky Hatton straight away. Don’t get me wrong, Pacquaio looked amazing in the ring with De La Hoya, but think about the quality of opposition. De La Hoya was slow, didn’t punch, looked weak and just simply wasn’t the same class. Remove Pacquaio, put Hatton in the ring with him that night and you’d have got a similar result.
People are talking about the Mayweather fight already with Pacquaio. I think I speak for most fans when I say that it would be billed as one of the best fights of modern times should it happen and surely would be one of the most anticipated fights ever. Firstly, Pacquaio has Hatton to take care of. I think it’s very important though that the Hatton-Pacquaio fight takes place.
Firstly, think of how much interest there would be. Pacquaio, should he move to 140, would be fighting at his 4th consecutive weight change, which sounds phenomenal. They’d sell Wembley out which can hold 100,000 people. Secondly, they both have huge hearts. It would take a lot to knock the other guy out. Also, Hatton can cut the ring off a lot better than De La Hoya can so Pacquaio may struggle to use his footwork and speed to avoid combinations. It would be a classic, brutal encounter. I for one wouldn’t want to put money on it.
So, whoever wins that should hopefully get a shot at Floyd Mayweather. Now I’m a huge Hatton fan, but in an odd sort of way, I’d rather see Pacquaio go up against him because I think he has the better chance. He can listen to tactics better and utilize them in the fight, he’s as quick, if not, quicker than Mayweather and should he do what he did to De La Hoya, Mayweather may struggle to catch him. Mayweather would have to stand tall, look to trade with him, bully him and land accurately. If he didn’t do that, his counter punching would have to be phenomenal because as you saw in the De La Hoya fight, Pacquaio was in with the punches and out before De La Hoya could respond.
Should Pacquaio defeat Hatton at Wembley, this fight would no doubt break Box Office records for figures, it would make MMA look like a fish in the sea and we’d be in for potentially, one of the best fights ever. Of course, this all depends on whether Mayweather has the bottle to take such a risky fight. If Mayweather, regarded as the former number one pound for pound king, doesn’t take the fight, then I do believe he’d lose a lot of respect and you could say he wasn’t willing to fight the best whilst in his prime. Mayweather is still in his prime, but I believe the money involved would be too good to turn down. If he does turn down huge money for the fight, then he’d be worse than what Americans say Joe Calzaghe, a lot worse, although on a personal note, it’s hard to compare as Calzaghe is towards the end of his career and is looking to make a lot of money, which he’s admitted. There’s only so many times you can keep taking on the next contender before you get beat and Calzaghe knows this. He also knows he’s at the end of the road. On the other hand, Mayweather knows he is still in his prime and it’s a question of is the risk worth the reward?
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