It had the makings of a soap opera, a telenovela starring a MexicanAmerican ring idol and icon, Oscar De La Hoya, aka the “Golden Boy “ of boxing, touted as the heavy favourite against Filipino champion Manny “Pacman “ Pacquaio, the underdog who many predicted stood no chances against his much bigger and superior opponent.
The mega-million bout was titled as “the Dream Match “ simply because it was a clash between champions, De La Hoya, a 10-time world title holder including a prestigious Olympic Gold medal while the Pacman is currently considered as the world’s most exciting fighter and the best pound-pound boxer having recently wrested the world Lightweight title from another Mexican, David Diaz via knockout. He is also the owner of three more World titles in boxing, the best record ever by a Filipino pugilist of all time.
Months before the fight, doubts were cast, worries gloated over what could have been an overwhelming advantage De La Hoya had versus Pacquiao who has never fought as a welterweight.
It was also called a mismatch because of De La Hoya’s experience and physical advantage against a smaller Pacquiao who started fighting in the 129 lbs. division, which meant that he would have to build up poundage up to 147lbs. to make the Welterweight requirement.
Some fear this might slow down Pacquiao, affecting his fighting ability.
Some said the fight should not have taken place at all because Manny would surely lose and get hurt from the beatings of De La Hoya. At one point, a Filipino congressman, Rufus Rodriguez called on Philippine Boxing authorities to cancel Pacquiao’s license to prevent him from fighting De La Hoya. Rodriguez said he feared and worry for Manny’s well being.
But the “Dream Match “ went on as scheduled last December 6 at the cavernous MGM Palace in Las Vegas. It came true in the 9th round of the bout. But only this time, the dream belonged to Pacman.
It was also a “Mismatch “ but also this time, it was Manny Pacquiao who was the superior one as he demolished the legend De la Hoya into submission, turning the pretty boy’s face into a swelling pulp, one eye closed from the relentless onslaught of wicked blows to the head and body. In the end, at the start of the 9th round, the Golden boy had enough and gave up the fight; the first time ever he had done in his checkered boxing career.
The much-vaunted “Dream Match “: became a “Nightmare before Christmas “ for De La Hoya and other well known boxing experts who boisterously predicted a defeat for Pacquiao. But as it turned out, De La Hoya and others will be spending sleepless nights and more bad dreams over what went wrong.
And Manny’s victory was indeed a dream come true and as well a fitting holiday present to the Filipino people, whose plight amid hard times, political scandals and corruption are at least alleviated momentarily with the stunning victory of the newly-crowned “ Golden Boy of Boxing “.
The humiliation of De La Hoya validates also a moniker given by the Los Angeles Times for Pacquiao as the “Mexi-cutioner “ for having beaten almost all of known Mexican world Boxing champions in convincing fashion from Erik “El Terrible “ Morales, Juan Marquez, Antonio Marco Barrera, David Diaz among others.
********
POSTMORTEM: The Pacman fought a tarnished “Golden boy of boxing From the very first round, De La Hoya looked nervous, slower and off target as he threw a lot of missed punches. He looked unprepared and seemed wore down by his effort to go down in weight during training. He showed a lack of conditioning and off speed and seemed confused by Pacquiao’s bob and weave, run and gun attack style.
In short, Pacquiao was only fighting a “phantom “ De La Hoya, a mere shadow of the great fighter who at his peak seemed unbeatable.
With this victory, Pacquiao has cemented his position as one of the boxing greats of the Philippines if not the world. Thus he joins the long list of hall of famers Filipino boxing greats that included Pancho Villa (Francisco Guilledo), the first Filipino world champion who won the World Flyweight title in 1923; Speedy Dado, Pacific Coast Bantamweight champion; Ceferino Garcia, the World Middleweight champion who popularized the “Bolo punch “; Small Montana, world Flyweight champion followed by Little Dado also a Flyweight champion.
In the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, Cely Villanueva gave his country the bronze medal and in 1964 in the Tokyo Olympics, his son Anthony won the Philippines’ ever Olympic Silver Medal.
But it was the great Gabriel “Flash Elorde “who was who was the first Filipino and Asian boxer to be elevated to the International Boxing Hall of fame in 1993 for his achievements in the ring as the “Greatest Junior Lightweight champion “ in World Boxing Council history.
Pacquiao, without any doubts will be shortly named to the same International Hall of fame of boxing.
Other Filipino boxing greats include also Salvador “Dado “ Marino who was World Flyweight champion in 1952; Roberto Cruz, World Junior Welterweight champ in 1964;Pedro Adigue jr. world Junior Welterweight in 1968;Rene Barrientos, WBC Super Featherweight champ in 1969;Bernabe Villacampo, World Flyweight champion in 1970;Erbito Salavarria, WBC Flyweight in 1970 and World Boxing Association (WBA) champ in 1975;Ben Villaflor Featherweight champ in 1972; the bad boy of Dadiangas (South Cotabato) and town mate of Pacquiao, Rolando Navarette, super Featherweight in 1981,Frank Cedeno World Flyweight 1983-64;Dodi Penalosa also World Flyweight and his brother Gerry Penalosa Super Flyweight champ 1997 and Luisito Espinosa who held two world titles, the WBC Featherweight and the WBA Bantamweight crowns.
*******
TO ALL OUR READERS, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!