Oscar De La Hoya will beat Pacquiao
Friday, December 5th, 2008
Because it’s personal to the Golden Boy.
It’s ON this Saturday, when the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada features the Oscar De La Hoya – Manny Pacquiao fight, a bout being dubbed as the ‘’dream match.’’
And as stated, yes, it’s personal for ‘’the Golden Boy’’ Oscar De La Hoya. He probably feels too that it’s his responsibility to save the sport from guys like Pacquiao who don’t know squat about boxing and just prey on boxers who are either retiring or simply too old to return to the ring.
Of course, De La Hoya has all the reasons to end the career of ‘’the Pacman’’ Manny Pacquiao too. Aside from bastardizing the name of one of the greatest franchises in video game history, Pacquiao doesn’t care about the sport at all. To this guy, it’s just all about money. And while he pretends to be a man of integrity, what happened back in 2006 between De La Hoya and Pacquiao simply suggests that he is anything but trustworthy.
For all ya’ll uninformed, the Pacman double-crossed De La Hoya’s Golden Boy promotions when Pacquiao turned his back on what De La Hoya thought was a done deal between the two. Pacquiao ended up signing with promoter Bob Arum instead for probably a bigger contract.
Of course, De La Hoya was disappointed. There he was ready to take a fighter like Pacquiao under his wing and finally get this guy some people to teach him how to fight like a true boxer for a change and he ended up getting stabbed in the back.
‘’When he looked into my eyes and I looked into his eyes…”
Oscar De La Hoya vs Manny Pacquiao
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008
Can Oscar De La Hoya save boxing?
In case you haven’t heard yet, one prized fighter will collide with someone yet to prove he’s worth all the hype on December 6 at the MGM Mirage in Las Vegas. And in case you didn’t get that, it’s a ‘’Golden Boy’’ Oscar De La Hoya – Manny ‘’the Pacman’’ Pacquiao face-off in what many are calling as the ‘’Dream Match.’’
Dream match? More like mismatch to me. Oscar De La Hoya is obviously the better, more experienced fighter and probably the only way for Manny Pacquiao to pull off a win on this one is run around the ring, avoiding De La Hoya’s right hooks.
Oscar De La Hoya has a career 
record of 39 wins with only five losses. 30 of those wins came by way of knockout. However, De La Hoya has declined over the years. His losses came in the last nine years of his career with three of them happening in his last seven fights that spanned from 2003 to 2008, the last one of which against now-retired former WBC super welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr.
It was a stroke of genius that Pacquiao’s people scheduled a fight against De La Hoya at this point of De La Hoya’s career. Pacquiao has been doing this a lot lately, scheduling a fight against the aging Erik Morales, the retiring Marco Antonio Barrera and a slower and older Juan Manuel Marquez.
This time though, Pacquiao could be walking into a brick wall since De La Hoya will be taking advantage of all kinds of statistical data, from reach to weight, and a fighter of his caliber should be ashamed if he lets a fighter like Pacquiao score a win over him before he walks away from the ring.
Still, being a true fighting champion, the owner of…
Can Bernard Hopkins beat Pavlik?
Monday, October 13th, 2008
On October 18, the Executioner will try to put the Ghost to sleep.
Future Hall-of-Famer and once a two-division world champion, Bernard ‘’The Executioner’’ Hopkins will meet undefeated world middleweight champion Kelly ‘’The Ghost’’ Pavlik on October 18 at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall in what is shaping up to be a good one, to say the least.
Hopkins, known as the one of the greatest middleweights of all time, has a 48-5-1 record with 32 wins coming from knockouts. He has held the world title as a middleweight and light heavyweight every year since 1995. Now over 40, he’s trying to rekindle the greatness he once had against Kelly ‘’The Ghost’’ Pavlik. Can he overcome and shock the world?
Dating back in 2006, Hopkins moved from middleweight to light heavyweight and quickly made some noise by beating Antonio Tarver. He continued his domination of the squared circle by winning a 170-pound bout against then title contender Winky Wright. But after losing his title to Jermain ‘’Bad Intentions’’ Taylor, Hopkins’ descend from the top began.
Although he lost again in his last bout as a light heavyweight, losing to Joe Calzaghe a few months ago, he is still determined to be on top of the sport again. Beating a world champion like Pavlik could do that.
In order to beat Pavlik, Hopkins needs two things to be successful. One, he needs to use angles to minimize Pavlik’s reach and in order for him to keep Pavlik off balance. Two, he needs to use sharp counter punches, if he lets Pavlik control the tempo, he will give away rounds like he did to Taylor and Calzaghe.
Pavlik is an agressive boxer but he is easy to hit with counters. Hopkins will have to circle, force Pavlik to move, and then fire straight right hands and clinch. The uglier the fight is, the more it benefits the crafty veteran. Bernard also…
Can Kelly Pavlik beat Hopkins?
Thursday, October 9th, 2008
Pavlik and Hopkins are on this October.
The reigning middleweight champion of the world, Kelly ‘’The Ghost’’ Pavlik, is set to go one on one with Bernard ‘’The Executioner’’ Hopkins on October 18 at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City in what could be the fight that will definie just how good of a champion Pavlik is.
Still undefeated at a perfect 34-0, Kelly ‘’The Ghost’’ Pavlik moved up in weight to face Hopkins for the 170-pound titular showdown. Pavlik has been compared to an express train as he continues to awe boxing fans with his stellar performances courtesy of his supreme aggressive ring style, jaw-breaking punches and almost 90 percent knock-out ratio.
Of course, he already did something Hopkins failed at, TWICE, that’s beating Jermain ‘’Bad Intentions’’ Taylor to keep the middleweight title. So how can a champion like this guy beat up a 43-year-old man? Hmm…
For Kelly Pavlik to win this match, Pavlik must take advantage of his speed and quickness being the younger fighter. Hopkins is a slick veteran with a bunch of boxing tricks in his bag, that’s why Pavlik shouldn’t try to brawl with Hopkins but instead, be patient and wait for openings Hopkins just might give up. Pavlik has one way to fight, defense with straight-forward throwing punches.
When he is in range, he lets the big ones fly. He should not change that, that’s the style that catapulted him to the upper echelons of boxing today, and if he plays his cards right, beating a future Hall-of-Famer like B-Hop with that kind of boxing style just might work.
What Pavlik will have to avoid is rough housing, clinches, pushes, head butts and wrestling. Brawling is Hopkins’ world and Pavlik should be aware of that. Pavlik also has to…
Bernard Hopkins – Kelly Pavlik is ON
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008
When the executioner meets a ghost.
That’s probably the mindset promoters of this Bernard ‘’The Executioner’’ Hopkins vs Kelly ‘’The Ghost’’ Pavlik extravaganza are in. Hopkins, even at the late stages of his career, is still one of the best in the game right now but when he’s matched up against an undefeated Ghost like Pavlik, you have to ask yourself, how can you execute a ghost?
And when you’re talking about the world middleweight champion Kelly ‘’The Ghost’’ Pavlik, trying to slay THE Ghost is more of an impossibility.
After all, he is not the undisputed king of the middleweight division for nothing and after surprising the world by beating then champ, Jermain ‘’Bad Intentions’’ Taylor, Kelly Pavlik has arrived with a bang and by the looks of it, he’s here for the long haul.
STILL, if there’s one guy who can shock the world, it’s Bernard ‘’The Executioner’’ Hopkins. There are not many boxers who can claim they can stay on top of the game at 40. B-Hop has.
Hopkins is 43 and he can still go toe-to-toe with the best of them. When Hopkins’ mother, Shirley Hopkins, passed away in 2003, she made her son promise that he will retire by the age of 40. Five years later, Hopkins is still mixing it up with the best in the business and since he can still keep pace with these younger guys, why retire?
Hopkins has already become the most exceptional over-40 fighters ever. STILL, he is facing a tough opponent in…
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