Manny Pacquaio simply dismantled what was left of Oscar De La Hoya last Saturday night in Las Vegas. It was clear that Oscar is a completely shot fighter and that he is no longer one of the elite boxers in the world.
Freddie Roach trained Oscar De LA Hoya for his fight against Floyd Mayweather and he clearly knew that Oscar would not pose much of a threat to any world class fighter. Especially one that throws a lot of punches and has a lot of speed. Oscar was made to order for Manny Pacquaio at this stage of his career.
I would not make the assumption that Manny Pacquaio easily defeats Floyd Mayweather because he handled Oscar more decisively than Mayweather did. Mayweather had no way of knowing that Oscar was so shot, or possibly Oscar got old overnight and still had a little left in the tank when he fought Floyd.
Several factors need to be considered when analyzing a Pacquaio-Mayweather fight. I would not be too excited at the way Manny looked against De La Hoya. Oscar would not have beaten any world class fighter that night. Mayweather would have looked equally impressive, if not more so, if the opposition was not throwing punches back.
Floyd has not fought in over a year, and it might suit him well to fight a tune-up first. Lastly, Floyd would have advantages in speed and power and be the naturally bigger man in this fight.
The stakes in this proposed fight would be great. If Pacquaio did win, Mayweather’s legacy would be severely damaged. He would have lost to a fighter moving up in weight and would have lost the biggest fight and stiffest challenge of his career.
I would go as far to say that it would not be his first defeat, because I still believe that he was given a gift decision in his first fight with Jose Luis Castillo. Oscar managed a split decision against him at a time when he was not the fighter he once was as well.
Floyd is beatable, I just do not see Pacquaio being the one to do it. I always wanted to see Mayweather fight Shane Moseley at junior welterweight. That is never going to happen, but it would have been special. Especially if it would have taken place about 10 years ago.
If Manny were to win, it would be quite an accomplishment. I would consider it a miraculous victory. Pacquaio has beaten great fighter that were past their prime. Juan Manuel Marquez has actually won more rounds in their two fights and I believe gave him a boxing lesson in the second fight.
That is the fight I really want to see. If that does not happen, a fight between Manny and Miguel Cotto or the winner of Mosley, Margarito is interesting as well. I really do not see Pacquaio winning any of these fights though.
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