Most fight fans, especially Filipinos, can?t seem to get enough of ring icon and certified national treasure Manny Pacquiao. Right now he seems to be the center of our sporting universe as he garners one prestigious award after another for a year of incredible achievement.
That?s why we were quite honestly thrilled to watch a replay of the ?Dream Match? against Oscar De La Hoya by Solar Sports at midnight on CS/9 and thought there couldn?t have been a better way to live the dream all over again and to draw inspiration from a classic performance that showed us all, how to overcome, to usher in a New Year of hope.
Needless to say listening to the respected HBO commentators, the venerable Col. Bob Sheridan and Dave Bontempo who were in Manila to cover the Pacquiao fight against Oscar Larios two years ago was a distinct pleasure because it gave us a sound perspective of the fight shorn of the sometimes irritating irrelevancies that unfortunately creep into local coverage of boxing.
There was only one round, judging by the comments of Col. Bob and Bontempo, that Oscar De La Hoya may have edged Pacquiao and that was Round 3. We honsetly felt De La Hoya may have won that round where he did connect with one solid right.on But it was close and the overall control of the tempo of the fight apparently worked in Pacquiao?s favor since the three judges gave even that round to him.
There was one moment when Pacquiao nailed De La Hoya and clearly rocked him when we saw assistant National Security Adviser and former Ilocos Sur governor Luis ?Chavit? Singson jump up in joy while way over to his left was Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer with a worried look on his face which was only natural seeing the beating his owner was getting.
It was clear who the winner was at that point and who was headed for the loser's dressing room
The in-between rounds were also revealing because they showed a far more composed ?Buboy? Fernandez effectively translating the instructions of trainer Freddie Roach who had done a masterful job in training and during the fight gave short but precise guidance to Manny.
Buboy at times would add his own inputs and must be commended for doing a fine job.
When we reflect upon the De La Hoya fight all of us who are ardent admirers of Pacquiao need to realize that the May 2 clash with Ricky ?Hitman? Hatton is bound to be a much tougher fight because Hatton will be fighting at a weight he is comfortable at and a champion too and is known for his rugged, aggressive style and punching power.
Besides, for all our annoyance over the ranting of Floyd Mayweather Sr we must concede that he is an excellent trainer and the effects were clearly evident when he trained Hatton for the Paul Malignaggi fight which Hatton dominated totally.
Hatton showed much better head movement, attacked Malignaggi using angles and moved well which means that with Mayweather Sr continuing his initial work Hatton will not be a De Hoya.
Manny will have to work even harder than he did for the De La Hoya fight and if he does, with no distractions and the added inspiration from his baby daughter with the unlikely name of Queen Elizabeth we can expect Manny Pacquiao to give us another royal command performance.
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