Oscar De La Hoya Vs Manny Pacquaio: Fight Predictions and Analysis

It has been billed as David Vs. Goliath.

If you own a bible, a look at first Samuel, Chapter 17 will give you the background.

Goliath was a fierce warrior and champion of the Philistines. David accepts the challenge of Goliath, and armed with his sling and five stones he manages to defeat Goliath and cut off his head with his own sword.

Oscar De La Hoya is the undisputed champion and Goliath of PPV buys. His fight against Mayweather Jr. set the record, generating a reported 134.4 million dollars.

Manny is the David of this battle, champion of his country, and a virtual one man sports franchise in the Philippines. Although considered to be number one pound for pound on many lists, Manny has yet to become a ppv star-YET.

On December 6th, the two will meet at a catchweight, with no official titles on the line, in what will no doubt be the biggest boxing attraction in recent memory.

I asked the top boxing writers on Bleacher Report their thoughts on this matchup, and here is what they had to say:

Nicholas Sowemimo wrote:

This superfight is a classic big man vs little man contest, in more ways that you may think. Yes, Oscar, who has most recently fought at Super Welterweight, but has in the past gone up as high as Middleweight, is larger in stature than his younger Filipino opponent, who is the current ring champion at Super Featherweight, but has fought as low as Flyweight earlier in his career.

However, in terms of form, the much-lauded Manny Pacquiao is undoubtedly the big guy in this bout—after losing his WBO Flyweight belt to Medgoen Singurat all the way back in 1999, in his 24 fights since Pac-Man has amazingly lost only once—to the great Érik Morales, a loss which he went on to viciously avenge on two occasions.

In comparision, De La Hoya has been mostly dormant as of late, fighting only six times in the past five years, and losing half of those bouts. Despite the fact that the "Golden Boy" is at his best when riled up or up against a challenge, I expect Pacquiao to be too swift to Oscar to land his heavier hands.

When I first heard this fight proposed, I was quite against it, and although I'm still not convinced about the ethics of the situation, I will be watching with interest along with the rest of the boxing world. My verdict: Pac-Man to affirm his status as Mr Pound-for-Pound, taking this one on a split decision.

Elmer Crisostomo wrote:

It's going to be another David-Goliath fight. De la Hoya may be the logical choice to win easily because of his overwhelming height, reach and weight advantages among others. But Manny Pacquiao has the speed, two-fisted punching power, the heart to win, and most importantly, he knows that he has nothing to lose and everything to gain in this epic battle.

Freddie Roach claim that Oscar can't pull the trigger anymore may not be true specially now that Dela Hoya made that as one of his motivations in accepting the fight where he has almost nothing to gain (except lots of money, of course). He'll definitely pull the trigger but he won't hit the target. And just like the David-Goliath fight, David wins in the end. So, it's Pacman gobbling the Golden Boy by 11th round stoppage.

David Reyes wrote:

Although I’ll be pulling for Pacquiao, because this is clearly a business venture to maximize profits for De La Hoya’s own benefit, the objectivity (and common sense) tells me to go with De La Hoya.

De La Hoya is disguising his reasoning for choosing Pacquiao as an opponent as his desire to “wanting to fight the best,” his claim is garbage and unacceptable, because he fought the best…and lost. So really, he’s fighting the interim best—and that’s no disrespect to Pacquiao, but it is what it is. He’s choosing Pacquiao because of the unprecedented size advantage and frankly, he knows he can beat him.

But before I go on ranting further, De La Hoya wins by knockout if they brawl, decision if he boxes smart.

We’ve seen 5’6” Pacquiao lose, and lose convincingly and he’s been a victim of a knockout lost to opponents his size. It’s cliché, but true: Pacquiao has never fought someone the size of De La Hoya, with only one fight at 135, the jump to 147 when his opponent will come into the ring at 160 maybe, is unprecedented and almost absurd.

It’s not even wholly about whether or not DLH can “still pull the trigger or not,” because stylistically and strategically both, Pacquiao is going to brawl because he’s going to need to get inside to hit “The Golden Boy.” Pacquiao’s reach is 67”, De La Hoya, 73” and while that’s not the biggest difference, it definitely gives DLH some room to operate, and although Pacquiao will press the action, even if he doesn’t want to—he has to, how much of a true Middleweight’s punch can Pacquiao take?

Pacquiao will use his speed and footwork, and with Mayweather Sr. in his corner, DLH will use his jab and straight right a lot more.  But the intangibles will sink the Filipino icon, his desire to get in there and brawl, it wouldn’t be smart (especially if you’re placing a wager) to get all caught up in the Pac-Man hype, we shouldn’t expect a masterful boxing performance from him against De La Hoya—he’s no Floyd Mayweather Jr. And De La Hoya knows that all too well.

Carlo Miguel Narboneta wrote:

The fight will start slowly as both fighters try to feel each other out. De La Hoya will throw the first bomb of the fight as he tries to bully Pacquaio with his size advantage. Pacquaio will be unable to use his right hooks and will instead throw lots of straight left hands.

Pacquaio will attack from the outside and stick close to avoid counter shots. De La Hoya will tire out in the later rounds from Pacquaio's continued attack. In the end, both fighters will be bruised up with De La Hoya the worse for wear. Pacquaio wins a split decision in a slow and boring fight.

Yours Truly wrote:

I expect Pacquaio to win the early rounds based on speed and movement. However, Pacquaio is no defensive wizard, and at some point De La Hoya is gonna catch him with something, and that is gonna be the key to the fight. If De La Hoya hurts Pacquaio, that changes the complexion of the fight entirely. I will go with De La Hoya by decision or late stoppage.

Verdict

It seems opinions are split on this matchup, at least amongst our writers. What do you think? Is Pacman's speed and heart too much for De La Hoya? Or will De La Hoya's vaunted left hook seal the deal on the smaller man?