POWER PACK-QUIAO?

Manny Pacquiao is set to face Multi-Division Champion Oscar De la Hoya on Dec 6, 2008 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The fight will be memorable, although some people say that it’s going to be a mismatch with De la Hoya getting the upper hand in terms of size.

What was Team Pacquiao’s point in accepting this fight dubbed a “mismatch” by the so called “experts” of the pugilistic business? Do they really think that they can score an upset? Can he soundly beat the Golden Boy?

If Pacquiao is in a disadvantage against De la Hoya, how can do the unthinkable? With speed, footwork, strategy or his punching power?

These factors led me to the question of “HOW HARD DOES MANNY PACQUIAO HIT?”

This will take a great part in this match—Oscar is too big for Manny. There has to be some way to neutralize these intangibles in order to win.

I'm putting Pacquiao’s punching power will be in under the microscope. Violent reactions all over the world will surely come my way after this gets published. Manny is a hero in our country, The Philippines.

I need not go to him or Freddie Roach and ask him that question, because he and PAC fans all over the world would suggest I personally see how hard he hits. Of course, on my standards, Pacquiao hits like a cannon ball—but ask that question to boxers that he has already faced and sparred, and you will be amazed by their answers.

My opinion is that he's not really a hard puncher—not to the likes of Mike Tyson, George Foreman, Wilfredo Gomez, Daniel Ponce De Leon, the late great Diego Coralles or Jose Luis Castillo have. And the list goes on…

When did we see him knockout a fighter with just a single punch? Just in the Emmanuel Lucero fight in July 2003 and Fashang 3K Battery in December 2004—both were tune up bouts.

The knockout against Lucero really looked devastating, as all the people who watched, including myself, reacted in amazement as a reed thin young man showed that he packs a power punch.

Lucero was undefeated when he faced the Pinoy. But he is untested, and not a high caliber fighter. To this day, that punch was never repeated by Manny.

He gave Fashan "3K Battery" a beating he won’t forget the rest of his life, his feet went off the canvas as he was hit by Manny’s left uppercut. Afterwards, the ref stopped the fight not bothering to count anymore. But hey! Manny can knock him out even if his left hand tied to his waist! No disrespect to Fashan, but he’s a low caliber fighter.

He knocked Juan Manuel Marquez down three times the first time they faced. But Marquez got back into the fight.

Give Pacquiao the benefit of the doubt that he broke his left hand during the first round barrage. That’s why he couldn’t finish him off.

But the second time they met, Marquez was down once, managed to get up and give him a hell of a fight. Couldn't put him away.

He knocked out Erik Morales, he knocked out Barrera—but not with a single punch. The way I see it, it’s because of the accumulation of punches, his hand speed, footwork, aggression, and ability to put pressure on his opponents—not his overrated punching power alone.

On record, Morales, Oscar Larios, Jorge Solis and David Diaz, admitted that his punch is not that really hard. "They’re not knockout punches." How ironic. All the formentioned fighters were knocked out by Pacquiao, except for Larios.

Morales said that Junior Jones hits harder than Manny and that he was just knocked out because of fatigue in their second fight and with the difficulty to make weight and poor conditioning in the rubber match. He exhausted all the efforts on the scales not in the ring.

He couldn’t even knock out a respectable and superbly conditioned former 122lb champ Oscar Larios when they fought in the Phillippines in July 2006. Larios said that his power is just average. That’s the reason why got up quickly when he was knocked down in the 7^th and 12^th rounds of the fight.

Jorge Solis commented that his wife hits harder than Pacquiao that he was knocked out because of his blinding hand speed that accumulated lots of shots and some power to his head.

David Diaz was heard, in between rounds against Pacquiao, saying that he had no problem with quality of the punches, and admitted that it was the volume that’s making him bananas. He confirmed these statements on print a few days after the fight.

Even Daniel Cervantes, an undefeated lightweight who sparred with him recently in preparation for his fight with Marco Antonio, revealed on Philippine TV that “Pacquiao is strong, but not as what I expected,” he said.

Israel Vasquez, the current undisputed 122lb champ, once expressed desire of moving up in weight someday and fight Pacquiao. He used to be the southpaw’s chief sparring partner years ago, revealed that he can take the best punches of the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter.

I’m not against Manny. I’m his number one fan.

He is a rare guy in the pugilistic business, powerful (?), awkward, tremendous hand and foot speed, never say die attitude, a warrior’s heart and he is a southpaw. What more can you ask for?

He’s arguably the greatest southpaw of all time.

I think Freddie Roach should stick to the volume-punch battle plan to beat De la Hoya and quit saying that they can knock him out.

My prediction will be De la Hoya will have a swollen face, semi-closed right eye and Pacquiao winning the fight, minus the KO, on a razor thin split decision. It will have Oscar ask for a rematch and postpone his retirement.