As you know, this is not the fight I wanted to see as Oscar's farewell fight (whether it really is a farewell fight remains to be seen). I would have preferred he went out against Antonio Margarito. I'm not being critical of Oscar but I just feel with this fight he puts himself between a rock and a hard place. Though Oscar is certainly not the first fighter to take on a smaller opponent, he has, at the very least, been the most criticized, and wrongly so.A loss to Manny Paquiao, would not keep him out of the Hall of Fame but it would certainly tarnish his legacy, and for what? A win would produce jeers, no matter how the fight turns out. An easy win over Paquiao would seem like a foregone conclusion and produce a collective "So what". A hard fought narrow victory would justify (at least in perception) all the criticism.
However, since they are going to fight, my hope is that De La Hoya will whip himself into the best shape of his life and fight as if he means it. Don't let it become a battle of attrition, because Manny will be there fighting, swinging and trying his damnedest to win, from the first bell to the last. It's what he does. If Paquiao wins this fight he won't just be the national hero of the Philippines, he'll be their god.
3 comments:
With Oscar at 5'9" and Manny at 5'61/2" I think Oscar made the right fight for him, Negate the youth and speed and aggressiveness by just being the bigger guy. Fighting at 147 is perfect for him, Manny will make it easily with sand in his pockets and Oscar will come into the fight after re hydrating at 155 +- pounds. he shouldn't lose to this much smaller fighter.
i can't believe it! Oscar has to go down in weight and Manny has to go up. it's the big man fighting the little man and you obviously know who the bigger guy is and they usually have the advantage not that Pacquiao is gonna let De La Hoya whip on him. i think the right match up for the golden boy would be Antonio Margarito. that will be fight of the year and dit'll be a great closer for 2008.
...I don't know which fight I wanna see less-this one or Hopkins vs. Pavlik...I don't think it's gonna be that easy to make 147 and fight at full strength,no matter what he does-unless they hold the weigh-in a year in advance.I think Oscar should've closed the show against one of the other 154 lb. champs."Under the circumstances",I'm going with Pacquiao.
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