Manny Pacquiao: World Greatest ChampionPacquiao-Dela Hoya Fight (Full Length)
LAS VEGAS – Manny Pacquiao established himself as the greatest fighter in the world Saturday.
Pacquiao displayed every punch raking the Golden Boy with straight lefts that nearly closed De La Hoya’s left eye and stunning him with hooks, jabs and uppercuts.
It was so savage of a beating that it was hard not to feel sorry for De La Hoya. At the end of the bout, a thoroughly beaten De La Hoya trudged across the ring
A crowd of 15,001 fans at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and a worldwide HBO Pay-Per-View television audience witnessed what was described by HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg as "one of the greatest performances by a prize fighter I've seen in 31 years in this business."
Pacquiao, who began his career as a 106-pounder and had never before fought above 135 pounds, defied the big-man beats the smaller-man logic by winning his celebrated welterweight debut against the sport's most popular fighter.
Pacquiao not only won but also dictated virtually every round of the scheduled 12-round fight.
Showing why he's considered boxing's No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, Pacquiao repeatedly struck with lightning-quick and precision hand speed to pummel De La Hoya to the face and body almost at will, and stayed fast and light on his feet to dance and dart away from taking a big punch, always circling to De La Hoya's right to avoid his vaunted left hook.
De La Hoya, the 1992 Olympic gold-medal winner and a professional world champion in six weight classes, was hammered as he never was in 44 previous bouts before trainer Nacho Beristain mercifully asked referee Tony Weeks to halt the carnage after eight one-sided rounds.
De La Hoya, ended up to a local hospital for a precautionary examination, never in his illustrious career had absorbed such a beating. Pacquiao’s hands were far too quick and, despite the fact that he was moving up from lightweight, much too hard for the Golden Boy to handle.
De La Hoya didn’t officially announce his retirement, but his business partners, Bernard Hopkins and Shane Mosley, spoke of his career in the past tense. In his brilliant career, De La Hoya took on most of the greatest fighters of his generation, but never before was he beaten as cleanly and decisively as he was by Pacquiao.
De La Hoya didn’t have that one last great fight left and was forced to accept a beating as the final act of a Hall of Fame career.
"He's a great fighter" Dela Hoya said after the fight. "My style is to go forward, but he was boxing on his toes all night and waiting for me to make my mistakes. I didn't have the strength to stop him. I felt really flat..."
For Pacquiao, the victory over the East Los Angeles-born, Mexican-American icon was the biggest achievement in his long career. He said he would be fighting for the pride of the Philippines and he did his nation proud.
"I knew right away I could win this fight,'' Pacquiao said. "I controlled the fight. I was able to defend against his jab. "I said speed would be the key and it was. This is a great victory for me and a great victory for my country."
Posts
