TOP BOXING WRITER SAYS PACQUIAO-DE LA HOYA WILL BE TREMENDOUS EVENT
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 16 Sep 2008
Mulvaney.
One of the top boxing writers in the US says the ?Dream Match? between Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao and ?The Golden Boy? Oscar De La Hoya at the MGM Grand on December 6 as an event ?will be tremendous.?
Kieran Mulvaney of Reuters News Agency who also writes for ESPN Sports and is often guest on HBO?s pre-fight countdown shows told www.insidesports.ph, Manila Standard and Viva Sports he does not expect the fight ?to be at all boring.?
He said De La Hoya has obvious height and reach advantages and ?if he simply boxes and moves, I don?t see how Pacquiao wins.? However, Mulvaney said that if De La Hoya fights Pacquiao the way he fought Steve Forbes ?we could be in for a much more interesting night.?
Mulvaney noted that some boxing writers love the fight and some hate it but said that he was personally disappointed and it ?makes me feel sad on some levels.?
He explained his sadness by saying he saw Pacquiao ?fight the best fight he has fought (against David Diaz). Lightweight is where he clearly belongs. Lightweight is where he should stay? driving home the point that there are many great bouts to be had at lightweight with fighters like Juan Diaz, Nate Campbell ?and especially Juan Manuel Marquez.?
Mulvaney said the first two bouts with Marquez were ?epic encounters with just one point separating them on six scorecards after 24 rounds.? He said ?they scream for a deciding bout and all the more so now following Marquez?s win over (Joel) Casamayor. To my mind Pacquiao and Marquez are No.1 and 2 pound-for-pound in the world. Let?s see them fight a third time.?
That seems remote at least at this point in Pacquiao?s career as he plans on fighting Ricky ?The Hitman? Hatton sometime next year after the December 6 megabuck fight with De La Hoya and then retire and seek public office.
However, Pacquiao has left a small window open saying he was willing to fight Marquez a third time provided Marquez was prepared to receive a much smaller purse than Pacquiao since the Filipino boxing icon is clearly the much bigger draw.
Mulvaney said the fight makes him sad because there us no way De La Hoya can truly win pointing out that ?if he beats Pacquiao easily it will be seen as being because he beat a smaller man. And the shame of it is that a man who once took on all the toughest opponents is entering the twilight of his career facing only people who are smaller than him. He (De a Hoya) runs the risk of tainting his reputation which would be a shame.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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