Dream Match Victory for Manny Pacquiao

"He's too fast. Stop the fight... that's it? . . .

The foregoing 30 second decision making/exchange between Nacho Beristain and 10-times world champion Oscar de La Hoya translated from Spanish to English sealed the victory of Manny Pacquiao on their "Dream Match".

Just on the first round of the fight you can see the agility, speed, and preparedness of Manny Pacquiao, debunking the opinion that he will lose the match against de la Hoya (weight/height/breadth/reach, etc). On to the 2nd and 3rd round saw some good exchange of punches, but the succeeding round you would wonder if de La Hoya was in for the fight. It seems he made himself a punching bag. He never threw his fist and arms. None of his signature boxing style was ever put to display. So with a left eye closing his coach and trainers decided to end the fight. That was at the 8 round of the supposed to be 12-round fight.

For this Manny is likened by the announcer to a revered boxing figure - Henry Armstrong (http://www.henryarmstrong.net/BIOGRAPHY.html).

Although this it was a not so pleasant milestone on the career of de la Hoya it would be nice that he continue his charity and philanthropic work, that will make him a real champion not necessarily in the ring but in the heart of the people he serves.

Which in the case of Manny Pacquiao being courted to become politician bodes distaste to many of his fans, they encourage him to remain their boxing champ. Very visible was the presence of VP Noli de Castro hugging and sharing the moment of Pacquiao's glory. Indeed Philippine politics conquers even the boxing ring for their publicity.

Thanks to the internet that even without an HBO-PPV access I was able to see the fight from this site:
http://en.justin.tv/sportcast (fotos used here were taken from the online vid).I learned of Manny's victory at church today from other Filipino boxing afficionados.



Dream Match Fight Stats

Punch Stats: Total Punches:
De La Hoya - 83 of 402 (21%)
Pacquiao - 224 of 585 (38%)

Total Power Punches:
De La Hoya - 51 of 164 (31%)
Pacquiao - 195 of 333 (59%)

Scoring: After eight one-sided rounds, all three judges had Pacquiao way ahead in the fight: 80-71, 80-71 and 79-72.




moment of celebration - Manny praying on the ring side corner that happened to be the same place where George Foreman said his victory prayer 13 years ago.

Manny Pacquiao's Title

Reigning WBC Lightweight Champion
Reigning WBC Super Featherweight Champion
Reigning RING Super Featherweight Champion
People's Featherweight Champion, 2003 - 2005
IBF Super Bantamweight Champion, 2001 - 2004
WBC Flyweight Champion, 1998 - 1999
53 Fights
48 Wins (36 knockouts), 3 Loses, 2 Draws


Links:
http://www.mannypacquiao.ph/
http://philboxing.com/news/story-20754.html