Manny Pacquaio demolishes Oscar de la Hoya

Fighters seldom “grow old gracefully”, at least in the competitive sense.  The exceptions—Archie Moore, George Foreman, James Toney—are few and far between.  More often than not a professional prizefighter goes from being a legitimate contender to the brink of retirement in a matter of minutes.  It can happen that suddenly, and on Saturday night Mexican superstar Oscar De La Hoya was the latest victim.  He looked utterly lost as a relentless Manny Pacquaio used his speed and workrate to completely frustrate De La Hoya en route to a 8th round TKO victory at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

There was much concern prior to the fight about Pacquaio’s ability to handle the naturally larger De La Hoya’s strength and power.  That concern was completely ill founded, and the reigning ‘pound for pound’ king began to overwhelm De La Hoya from the opening round.  Pacquaio’s seemingly nonstop flurries of strikes began to show their effect on De La Hoya’s face as his elusiveness made it impossible for his opponent to retaliate with any offense of his own. 

As the fight progressed, De La Hoya became less and less able to do anything except take a beating from the Filipino dervish across the ring.   He managed to land a few body shots and a late round flurry in the 5th, but that was really his only effective offense of the fight and did nothing to delay the inevitable.  Between the 7th and 8th round, trainer Nacho Berenstein told his fighter that he wasn’t going to let him stay out there and take a beating if he wasn’t throwing punches.  After the 8th round, Berenstein pulled the plug and Oscar smartly didn’t object to what was clearly the right decision. 

The judges’ scorecards at the time of the stoppage vividly reflect the one-sidedness of the contest:  two of the three judges scored the fight 80-71, with Pacquaio winning all eight rounds (with a 10-8 margin in the 7th).  One judge charitably gave De La Hoya the fifth round, which was certainly a stretch resulting in a 79-72 margin.  De La Hoya displayed the class of a champion following the fight, as he deflected Larry Merchant’s pointed questions about his relatively low weight to keep the focus on Pacquaio’s masterful performance.  He stopped short of retiring in the ring, but certainly sounded as if he were leaning in that direction as he observed:

"At this stage when you face someone like Pacquiao, it's going to be a hard fight. I worked hard and trained really hard to get ready for this fight, but it's a lot different story when you're training than when you are actually in the ring. I just felt flat, like I didn't have it.

"My heart still wants to fight, but when you physically don't respond, you have to be smart."

De La Hoya’s post fight behavior should be required viewing for all aspiring prizefighters to learn how a champion carries himself with class, dignity and respect for the sport even in defeat.  De La Hoya is an international superstar with a nine figure ATM balance; if he can be humble and gracious in this setting other fighters have no excuse for not being able to emulate his gentlemanly manners.

The most poignant moment came as De La Hoya prepared to leave the ring to allow Pacquaio to enjoy the glory he had earned.  As De La Hoya gave him one last congratulatory hug, Pacquaio assured him that “You’re still my idol.” 

To which the defeated Mexican warrior responded: “No, now you’re my hero”.