By Jim Amato: When I first heard that Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquaio might be made, I couldn’t believe it. Yes, Manny looked great against David Diaz, who is a tough guy. With all due respect to David Diaz, I can come up with at least five lightweights right off the top of my head who I think are better then David. Joel Casamayor, Nate Campbell, Julio Diaz, Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz. So to me, although Manny won a piece of the crown, he didn’t even beat the best guy in the division. Now he’s going to fight a full fledged welterweight and a strong one at that..
This fight makes sense only to Bob Arum, Oscar and Manny but not the boxing fans. I feel Oscar is cheating the fans. In the past he took on all comers. He had supposedly stated before the Cotto-Margarito fight that he would like to meet the winner. However, I don’t think Oscar liked what he saw the night Margarito stopped Cotto. Oscar matches up well with Cotto, who I believe Oscar thought was going to win. Now a possible fight with Margarito is not something Oscar may be looking forward to.
I really don’t think Oscar has it in him anymore to go twelve hard grueling rounds and that’s exactly what he would have to do if he faced Margarito. I want to see Margarito rough up Oscar. I want to see someone wipe that phony smile off of Oscar’s smug face. I want to see Oscar take the ten count and not from a body shot. Margarito is the man to do it and Oscar knows it.
De La Hoya has every possible advantage against Pacquaio other then hand speed and the fact that Manny’s a southpaw. Manny can hit but it took him nine rounds to get the game David Diaz out of there. Oscar can take a pretty good shot. Manny may land some power punches but I don’t think he’ll really be able to hurt Oscar. I believe De La Hoya’s best weapon in this fight will be his jab. He has a good one and this will keep Manny from getting off so quickly. If Oscar doesn’t win inside of ten rounds, I’ll be shocked. What would really shock me but I would love to see is Manny just flatten De La Hoya. What about your legacy then Oscar?