Manny “Pacman” Paquiao, Boxing’s pound for pound King
Sunday, December 7th, 2008
Pacman did it again! On the night of December 6th, the Filipino boxing icon made history. Against seemingly insurmountable odds, Manny Pacquiao made a believer of both boxing aficionados and experts too. No one can dispute now that he is the best pound for pound boxer in the world.
Demolishing a great boxer like Oscar de la Joya who was overwhelmingly favored by experts and betting fans to win what was billed as the “Dream Fight”, within 8 rounds was no mean feat for Manny Pacquiao. Towering at 5feet 10 inches - 4 inches taller than Manny, heavier and with the more fight experience, everybody was saying Manny doesn’t stand a chance against the Golden Boy. That is, except Manny, his fatherly trainer Freddie Roach and of course Team Pacquiao.
True to his prediction that De la Joya will go down in the 9th round, Freddie Roach, who apparently has the inside track on De la Joya’s weaknesses having worked with him during De la Joya’s unsuccessful bid to wrest the Middleweight crown from Floyd Mayweather Jr., orchestrated a masterful plan that tarnished the legend of the Golden Boy and dealt one of the worst beating in De la Joya’s checkered ring career.
According to the experts, three factors did in Oscar de la Joya:
- Speed - Pacman ran circles around the stunned Golden Boy with his speed and quickness. His foot speed enables him to step out of De la Joya’s path masterfully and hit his foe with well placed blows while De la Joya was still facing the wrong way. De la Joya was rendered hapless to use his vaunted left hook and counter punch simply because Pacquiao wasn’t there anymore before he can make his move.
- Power - De la Joya being bigger and heftier is supposed to made mince-meat of Manny Pacquiao. It turned out the other way around. Pacman’s power comes from his devastating speed. After the first few rounds, De la Joya’s face was already a sorry mess and the nose bleeding from the power punches dished out by Manny Pacquiao. In the seventh round, De la Joya was staggering all over the ring and ready to fall from the pummeling he had been getting when cornered by the Pacman. By the 8th round it was all over for De la Joya. Manny “His corner man threw in the towel before the start of the 9th round - a TKO victory for the supposedly puny Manny Pacquiao.
- Strategy - Using the ring, circling to the left of De la Joya, being patient and not attacking wildly but picking his spots - were some of the ring generalship displayed by Manny Pacquiao following Freddie Roach’s master plan which confused and frustrated De la Joya and spelled defeat for the Golden
Boy.
It was David slaying Goliath. Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao’s smashing victory over legend Oscar de la Joya installs him as the undisputed pound for pound king in the world of boxing. And made a believer of everyone. No doubt about it this time…
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