number1contender.net

HBO PPV Recap

The Dream Match: De La Hoya vs. Pacquiao

December 6, 2008

MGM Grand-Las Vegas, Nevada

The official attendance for this event is 15,001 with a preliminary live gate for this event is around $17 million. That number will increase when the money from the local closed circuit attendance is worked into the final gate. There are 33,000 closed circuit seats that have been opened up in the greater Las Vegas area at $60 and $100. The initial PPV buys have been reported at 1.25 million. HBO is reporting $70 million in domestic PPV revenue. That number may be revised up a little bit over the next few weeks. The final number is expected to be around 1.35 or 1.4 million buys. The PPV buy rate is weaker then had been hoped for, but is still good considering the recent disappointing buy rates for other events. That ties it for the ninth biggest boxing PPV of all time and makes it the third biggest selling non-heavyweight match of all time, all of those involve De La Hoya. De La Hoya's purses for his last 3 matches are now reportedly around $100 million. He is also now the first boxer to do over 1 million buys on consecutive PPV's.This buyrate isover triple the best buyrate Pacquiao has ever done.

1. Catch-Weight (165 pounds) 8-Round Match:

Daniel Jacobs (12-0, 11 KO's, 162 pounds) vs. Victor Lares (14-3, 3 KO's, 165 pounds)

Jacobs was a highly regarded amateur boxer and was expected to represent the United States at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympiad. However, Jacobs was upset in the Olympic qualifiers, which forced him to turn pro early. Jacobs turned pro on the undercard of the Ricky Hatton vs. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. PPV on December 8, 2007. In that 1 year since turning pro, this will be his thirteenth professional match.

Jacobs has since become a highly touted Golden Boy Promotions prospect and this match is designed to showcase him. He has a lot of punching power and this match is designed to give him a highlight reel knockout. This will be Jacobs' first scheduled 8-round match.

The Brooklyn, New York resident's last match was a technical knockout victory 2:59 into round 3 over Jimmy Campbell on November 8, 2008 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York on the undercard of Joe Calzaghe vs. Roy Jones, Jr.

Jacobs is unranked by The Ring magazine and currently the number 52 ranked boxer in the world at 168 pounds by boxrec.com.*

Lares is here to lose in spectacular fashion. The 2 opponents Lares has faced with more then 8 wins on their record have defeated him. Lares has lost twice by knockout in 5 rounds or less making him tailor made for a power punching prospect looking to make an impression.

Lares' last match was an 8-round majority decision over Jesse Orta on May 24, 2008 at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Robstown, Texas.

Lares is unranked by The Ring and currently the number 155 ranked boxer in the world at 160 pounds by boxrec.com.

At 21-years-old, Jacobs is 10 years younger then the 31-year-old Lares. Jacobs has the height advantage standing 6' 1" tall while Lares stands 5' 8.5" tall. The Brooklyn resident has the reach advantage with a 24.5" arm length measured from the armpit to the end of the first, compared to the 24" arm length of Lares. Jacobs will be the larger boxer in the ring having unofficially rehydrated to 168 pounds since the official weigh-ins. Lares has not gained any weight since the official weigh-ins and is still 165 pounds. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance.

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this event. All of the judges keeping official score of this match from ringside are from Nevada. The referee is Jay Nady. Harold Lederman will be keeping HBO's unofficial scorecard for this event.

Jacobs hit Lares with power punches that appeared to have the Texan hurt twice in round 1. The Brooklyn resident wins round 1 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Jacobs had his first child born on Wednesday and is in a hurry to go home. With 29 seconds to go in round 2, Lares is dropped by a combination that is finished a left hand and then a right as the Texan is dropping to the mat. Lares stands up and answers the referee's count to continue with 20 seconds to go in the round. However, the referee waves off the match. Lares looked okay to continue, but the call was fine. He was over-matched and probably took the knee somewhat voluntarily. Jacobs was going to knockout Lares in the next round after landing additional unwarranted punches. Also, Lares did not have the look on his face of someone who wanted the match to keep going. The sparse crowd booed the finish.

The official outcome from the legendary Michael Buffer is that: at 2:44 of round 2 the referee has called a stop to this contest making the winner by technical knockout and still undefeated, Daniel "The Golden Child" Jacobs. The win moves Jacobs to 13-0 with now 12 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers have Jacobs landing 48 of the 155 total punches he threw, for a 31% total connect percentage. Lares landed only 7 of the 58 total punches he threw, for a 12% total connect percentage.

Jacobs was very good in this match. He could be a force to deal with in a few years at 160 or 168 pounds. Jacobs next match will probably be in January at 160 pounds.

Lares did not lose in quite the spectacular fashion that had been hoped for, but he did his job. The Texan will probably step down in class in his next match to face an opponent with about 6 wins on a show in Texas.

2. WBO Junior Featherweight (122 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Juan Manuel Lopez (23-0, 21 KO's, 122 pounds) (c) vs. Sergio Medina (33-1, 18 KO's, 122 pounds)

Lopez won this title in a dominating upset of Daniel Ponce de Leon. The resident of Caguas, Puerto Rico took the title from Ponce de Leon via technical knockout at 2:25 of round 1 on June 7, 2008 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Ponce de Leon had never been knocked down as a pro or amateur prior to his encounter with Lopez. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/12/9/recap-of-juan-manuel-lopez-vs-daniel-ponce-de-leon.htmlLopez is making his second defense of this title.

The champion had a good amateur boxing career that culminated when he represented Puerto Rico at 119 pounds during the 2004 Athens Summer Olympiad.

This event is being co-promoted by Bob Arum's Top Rank Promotions and Lopez is the boxer on this card they are looking to push as a future star. Lopez has incredible power and has stopped his last 4 opponents inside of 7 minutes.

Lopez' last match was a knockout victory at 47 seconds of round 1 over Cesar Figueroa on October 4, 2008 at Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico.

Lopez is The Ring's number 3 contender at 122 pounds to their championship in the weight class, Israel Vazquez.

Medina had a good amateur boxing career where he qualified to represent Argentina at the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympiad. However, Medina did not want to spend the 3 weeks away from his family competing in Australia and declined the invitation to represent his country in the Olympics.

This is Medina's second match outside of Argentina. His first match outside of Argentina was as the opening televised match on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. De La Hoya on May 5, 2007 at the MGM Grand. Medina had the best match on the televised card that night in losing via 12-round unanimous decision to Rey Bautista. The boxers traded knockdowns in the match and both boxers were cut by headbutts in the wild brawl. However, it was clear that night that Bautista was the more skilled boxer. Medina may have had a chance, but his corer was giving him horrific advice that made it an easier match for Bautista. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/12/9/recap-of-sergio-medina-vs-rey-bautista.html

Medina's last match was a technical knockout victory in round 11 over Jean Javier Sotelo on Estadio Delmi in Salta, Argentina. Medina knocked down Sotelo in round 7 and 11 on the way to earning the stoppage.

Medina is unranked by The Ring, and the number 50 ranked boxer in the world at 122 pounds by boxrec.com.

At 25-years-old, Lopez is 1 year younger then the 26-year-old Medina. Lopez has the height advantage standing 5' 7" tall, while Medina stands 5' 6" tall. Medina has the reach advantage with a 22.5" arm length, compared to the 21.5" arm length of Lopez. The Argentine will have a huge weight advantage in the ring having unofficially rehydrated since the official weigh-ins to 138 pounds. That is an unhealthy weight gain for a boxer at 122 pounds. Medina may have severe stamina problems from cutting that much weight. Lopez has unofficially rehydrated to 129 pounds approaching match time. The champion will employ the southpaw stance and the challenger will employ the orthodox stance.

Before the introductions the ring bell is struck 10-times in honor of the late referee Toby Gibson who passed away this week. All of the referees are wearing black armbands this weekend.

The disgrace that is open scoring will be used in this match. All of the official judges keeping score of this match are from Nevada. The referee is Joe Cortez.

Medina decided to open the match by standing against the ropes with his gloves up and letting the champion punch him. This resulted in Medina getting dropped to the canvas by a left hand 38 seconds into round 1. Medina successfully answers the referee's count with 2:08 to go in the round, but looks in real bad shape. It appeared the wind from a Lopez combination scared Medina into taking a knee in the corner with still 2:00 to go in round 1. The referee should probably stop it here. Medina clearly wants no part of Lopez. The Argentine easily answers the referee's count, because he was not hit to cause the knockdown, and is allowed to continue with 1:48 to go in the round. Medina is in decent shape, but appears to have no chance to last out this round. A right hook to the head sends Medina down for the third time with still 1:27 to go in round 1. The referee waves off the match this time. Lopez did not appear to land a good punch in putting Medina down 3-times. The crowd boos this finish. This time they are not mad at the referee, but at Medina for his apparent lack of desire to compete. It did not appear that Medina landed or even threw a punch in the entire match.

The final outcome from Michael Buffer is that: the referee has called a stop to this contest at 1:38 of round 1 making the winner by technical knockout, still undefeated, and still the WBO Junior Featherweight Champion of the World, Juan Manuel "Juanma" Lopez. The win moves Lopez to 24-0 with now 22 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers have Lopez landing 9 of the 37 total punches he threw, for a 24% total connect percentage. Medina landed an embarrassing 1 of the pitiful 6 total punches he threw, for a 17% total connect percentage.

This is Lopez' twelfth straight knockout and third straight first round knockout. He cannot be asked to be any more dominant. However, this win did not prove very much. Lopez may not have landed a solid power punch the entire match. On the second knockdown, Lopez did not actually land a punch. Medina just took a knee, based on the force of the Lopez' missed punches. Lopez will probably face a top 10 opponent at 122 pounds in his next match.

Medina probably did not throw this match. However, if a boxer was taking a dive it is hard to imagine it looking much worse then this. Medina was not hit solidly on any of the knockdowns and not at all to cause the second knockdown. This is possibly the worst performance in a match that has been shown on television, let alone PPV in years. Medina continued to make all of the mistakes he made against Bautista in laying against the ropes passively, except this time he appeared to be scared to be in the ring. The huge weight cut would indicate that Medina showed up to the match out of shape. Medina will probably never box outside of Argentina, again. If Medina shows the type of fear he showed in this match in his next match, he will never box again. Medina acted like some jobber in pro-wrestling who is sent out to get destroyed by Big Show in 30 seconds and decides to run after the first chop. It is nearly impossible to describe in words how miserable Medina's performance was in this match.

3. WBO NABO Junior Welterweight (140 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Victor Ortiz (22-1-1, 17 KO's, 140 pounds) (c)vs. Jeff Resto (22-2, 13 KO's, 140 pounds)

Ortiz won this championship when it was vacant in his last match via technical knockout at 2:25 of round 5 over Robert Arrieta on September 13, 2008 at the MGM Grand on the undercard of Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Joel Casamayor. Ortiz scored 3 knockdowns on the way to stopping Arrieta that night. The previous champion was Victor Manuel Cayo who vacated this belt to stay in his home country of the Dominican Republic competing for another meaningless belt. Ortiz is making his first defense of this trinket.

Ortiz had a good amateur boxing career that culminated when he won the 2003 PAL Championship at 132 pounds. Since turning pro, Ortiz has become another one of Golden Boy Promotions' top prospects.

The 2 blemishes on Ortiz' record are highly questionable. The loss camevia spurious disqualification to Corey Alarcon at 2:59 of round 1 on June 3, 2005 at the Performing Arts Center in Oxnard, California. Ortiz' draw came on January 19, 2007 in a match with Marvin Cordova, Jr. at the Dodge Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. The match was stopped after round 1, when Ortiz was ruled unable to continue due to a cut cause by an accidental foul. Under the unified rules of boxing, a match stopped by a cut that is caused an unintentional foul before the end of round 4 goes in the books as a no contest. Strangely, in this case it went into the record books as a draw.

Ortiz is unranked by The Ring and the number 18 ranked boxer at 140 pounds by boxrec.com.

The statistics show Resto has been brought in to lose this match. This is Resto's second scheduled 12-round match. The other was a September 26, 2003 match with Carlos Maussa at the Memorial Coliseum in Corpus Christi, Texas. Maussa stopped Resto via technical knockout at 2 minutes of round 6. That is also the last time Resto has weighed-in for a match at 140 pounds or less. This is only the fourth time Resto has weighed in at 140 pounds or less. The other 2-times were on May 30, 1998 and in his debut match on March 28, 1997. Finally, this is the first boxer Resto has faced that uses the southpaw stance.

Resto's last match was a 10-round majority decision victory over Hector Alatorre on the undercard of De La Hoya vs. Steve Forbes on May 2, 2008 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. It was Resto's first scheduled 10-rounder since he defeated Michael Warrick via technical knockout at 1:53 of round 10 on April 28, 2005.

Resto is unranked by The Ring and the number 166 ranked boxer at 147 pounds by boxrec.com.

At 21-years-old, Ortiz is 10 years younger then the 31-year-old Resto. Resto has the height advantage standing 5' 11" tall, while Ortiz stands 5' 9" tall. The challenger has the reach advantage with a 24" arm length, compared to the 23" arm length of Ortiz. Ortiz will be the heavier boxer in the ring having unofficially rehydrated to 154 pounds. Resto has unofficially rehydrated to 149 pounds. Both boxers are naturally right-handed. However, only Resto will employ the orthodox stance. Ortiz will box out of the southpaw stance.

Open scoring will be used in this match. All of the judges keeping official score of this match are from Nevada. The referee is Russell Mora.

Both boxers are starting the match in the southpaw stance. With 1:50 to go in round 1, Ortiz finishes a combination with a straight left hand that sends Resto to the canvas. Resto successfully answers the referees count to continue with 1:38 to go in the round. The challengers legs still appear a little unsteady and he may be bleeding from the nose. Another straight left sends Resto down into the ropes for the second knockdown of round 1 with 1:25 still to go in the round. The 3 knockdown rule is not in effect. Resto is severely over-matched. The referee rules Resto is okay to continue with 1:13 to go in the round. However, Resto's chances of making it out of this round appear bad. Ortiz is setting Resto up with a right jab then throwing the straight left. Resto is not seeing the straight left coming and that is why the challenger has had to pick himself up off the mat twice. Resto switched to his normal orthodox stance in the middle of round 1 and had relatively better success with that. However, Ortiz wins round 1 on everyone's scorecard, 10-7. The champion should finish the match in round 2. A combination capped by a left hook drops Resto for the third time in the match with 1:53 to go in round 2. The referee is going to apply a count, rather then stop the match right here. The match should probably be stopped here, Resto has taken enough punishment. Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward, who is doing color commentary on this broadcast for HBO, thought the match should have been stopped with 50 seconds to go in round 1. At that time, Resto was taking some clean power shots to the head against the ropes. Either way, the challenger has endured enough in this match. Resto stood at 9. Then, the ref waved it off saying, "No." Resto had given the boxer code for he was done and the referee listened.The referee did a good job here.

The official outcome from Michael Buffer is that: at 1:19 of round 2 the referee has called a stop to this contest making the winner by technical knockout and still WBO NABO Junior Welterweight Champion, "Vicious" Victor Ortiz. The win moves Ortiz to 23-1-1 with now 18 wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers have Ortiz landing 42 of the 85 total punches he threw, for an excellent 49% total connect percentage. Resto landed only 8 of the 48 total punches he threw, for a 17% total connect percentage.

Ortiz said in his post match interview that he expected a more competitive match. The champion said he will face whoever his management tells him to face next.

The Oxnard, California resident was dominant in this match. He gave a very good post match interview. Ortiz is a long way from challenging Ricky Hatton. However, he could be ready to face someone in the top 10 at 140 pounds in 2 matches. It is hard to judge his skills based on this performance. He is very young. Therefore, there is no need to rush him into matches against top opponents when he has not gone more rounds and been tested against lesser competition.

This was probably Resto's last match. He was on a provisional promotional deal with Golden Boy Promotions that expires early next year. Resto needed a strong performance here to get the contract renewed or for another major promoter to be interested in signing him. This would not count as a strong performance. Resto has a good day job back home. He will be able to live a good life and take care of his family working a normal job.

HBO now has to stall for a lot of time. Based on contractual agreement, Pacquiao cannot start walking to the ring until about 40 minutes after Ortiz finished his post match interview. They already had to put on a swing match for the live crowd after the first 2 matches went short. To HBO's consternation, that match went the distance. Larry Merchant was backstage doing interviews with the main event parties when they arrived and never saw the first 2 matches and missed half of the swing match. Most of these interviews are not being recapped or will be dealt with in the De La Hoya-Pacquiao background.

4. Welterweight (147 pounds) 12-Round Match:

Oscar De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KO's, 145 pounds) vs. Manny Pacquiao (47-3-2, 35 KO's, 142 pounds)

De La Hoya's amateur boxing career is legendary in the United States. He captured the gold medal at 132 pounds for the United States at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics. That achievement earned him the nickname "The Golden Boy" and induction into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame in April 2008. De La Hoya was so popular coming out of the Olympics that his debut match was the main event of USA Tuesday Night Fights at the Great Western Forum, the home of the mighty Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Kings, in Inglewood, California on November 23, 1992. That night the constant showman delivered with a knockout over Lamar Williams at 1:46 of round 1. The Lakers and Kings now play at the Staples Center and last week there was a bronze statue of De La Hoya erected in front of the building. It joins the statues of Laker great Magic Johnson and the greatest hockey player ever, former LA King Wayne Gretzky.

This match appears to be getting personal for De La Hoya as it draws closer. Pacquiao is trained by Freddie Roach, who trained De La Hoya for his match with Floyd Mayweather, Jr. De La Hoya lost that match in a controversial split decision that Floyd Mayweather, Sr., who had trained De La Hoya in the past, said De La Hoya should have won. Based on that result, De La Hoya fired Roach as his trainer and returned to having Senior train him for what was scheduled to be his next 2 matches. The match he had in May and a scheduled rematch in September with Junior.

Since then, Roach has been needling De La Hoya in the media saying the boxer lost that match, because he could not "pull the trigger" anymore. Roach has been saying that Pacquiao could move up in weight and knockout the bigger De La Hoya. De La Hoya and Pacquiao already had some animosity over a failed business deal. When Pacquiao's promotional deal with Bob Arum's Top Rank Promotions expired, Golden Boy Promotions aggressively worked to sign Pacquiao. This included De La Hoya arriving in a limo and intercepting Pacquiao when he arrived at the airport in Los Angeles on his way to a press conference to announce his next match. There De La Hoya offered Pacquiao a briefcase full of $100 bills that totaled $300,000 to sign with them immediately. Pacquiao gladly took the briefcase full of cash and signed the contract. However, after thinking about it for a few days resigned with Top Rank. Unfortunately, Pacquiao did not inform Golden Boy Promotions or return the briefcase full of money. This had Pacquiao, Golden Boy Promotions Top Rank tied up in a very expensive court case for months. It was a court case Golden Boy Promotions would eventually lose. De La Hoya was very embarrassed by the incident. It was not good for his image to be the guy that steals other promoters' boxers by showing up at airports with briefcases full of $100 bills Mafioso style. Though, in true Mafioso fashion De La Hoya has been quoted saying numerous times, to numerous people about Pacquiao, "I'm going to make him pay." Presumably, De La Hoya then smashed something with a baseball bat. The rift had Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank refusing to match up their boxers against each other for a long time. De La Hoya had stopped talking to Bob Arum, who was De La Hoya's original promoter and had been so close to De La Hoya that the boxer gave Arum his Olympic gold medal. (Arum returned it, when the sides began working together, again.)

Pacquiao does not seem to have the same feelings of animosity towards De La Hoya as De La Hoya has for Roach and Pacquiao. The HBO 24/7 series and this the announcers during this PPV broadcast has been trying to make Roach out to be the devious heel in this feud. However, it is very hard to turn a trainer with Parkinson's disease that generally appears like a nice guy heel. (Rush Limbaugh was pretty unsuccessful trying something similar.) Roach is working hard to help HBO turn him heel, but the character does not really fit him. He is simply a trainer that believes strongly in his guy and is trying to promote a match. Roach is working to get a mental edge over De La Hoya, but it is probably not personal. It is more of helping his charge win.

However, Roach has tried to make things more personal with De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions this week. On the Friday before the match, Roach objected to the way De La Hoya wraps his hands. The Nevada State Athletic Commission had to issue 2 rulings on De La Hoya's hand wraps. However, one of De La Hoya's business partners at Golden Boy Promotions, Richard Schaeffer,and Roach nearly came to blows over the matter on Friday. (Schaeffer is not a boxer, therefore even against a trainer with Parkinson's disease Schaeffer would have had a bad day.)

Mayweather, Sr. was scheduled to train De La Hoya for this match. However, he elected to train Ricky Hatton to defeat Paulie Malignaggi, instead. Therefore, De La Hoya has brought in Nacho Beristain to train him. Beristain has trained the opponent that has given Pacquiao the most trouble, Juan Manuel Marquez. Unfortunately, Beristain does not speak English. Therefore, De La Hoya needed someone to cut promos for him in the trainer role for this edition of 24/7 and chose legendary Hall of Fame trainer Angelo Dundee, who worked with greats such as Muhammad Ali. Dave and Bryan were trying to think of a wrestling figure that could have been looked on to give the type of advice and treated with the respect that Dundee is receiving. The best example of that guy in wrestling would be the late Jim Barnett. A man who has been around and seen everything. In his last days he was still sending feedback to WWE. On this show, Dundee is breaking down tape and giving little tips to De La Hoya. Dundee is even going to be close enough to point things out to Beristain in the corner during the match.

De La Hoya's last match was a 12-round unanimous decision over Steve Forbes on May 2, 2008 at the Home Depot Center. The event was called "Homecoming" and the glorified De La Hoya infomercial was also his way of giving back to the fans who had supported him over the years. The match was carried on regular HBO, De La Hoya's first non-PPV match since his March 21, 2001 match against Arturo Gatti. That was De la Hoya's last match at 147 pounds. It was De La Hoya's first match in the greater Los Angeles, California area where he grew up since his June 17, 2000 match against Shane Mosley. The tickets for the event had been heavily discounted so regular fans could attend. With many of the tickets priced at $25 the event drew around 27,000 people, the largest outdoor crowd to see a boxing match in the United States, since De La Hoya defeated Patrick Charpentier via technical knockout at 1:56 of round 3 on June 13, 1998 at the Sun Bowl in San Antonio, Texas. De La Hoya took every round from Forbes on many observers scorecards. De La Hoya only failed to deliver the knockout, because Forbes spent the last several rounds in survival mode, instead of trying to win. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/12/9/recap-of-oscar-de-la-hoya-vs-steve-forbes.html

De La Hoya is The Ring's number 3 contender at 154 pounds to their vacant championship in the weight class. De La Hoya owns The Ring as well as several other magazines and has been prominently wearing The Ring logo gear on the 24/7 shows leading up to this show. He is a smart businessman who knows about product placement.

Pacquiao turned pro at 16-years-old in the lowest weight class in boxing, 106 pounds. He weighed in at 106 pounds for that first match and according to Pacquiao he was actually 96 pounds, but weighed-in with his clothes on and 10 pounds of weights in his pockets to appear more imposing. It apparently did not work, because Pacquiao's first 3 pro matches all went the distance.

The pound-for-pound champ made his debut in the United States on the undercard of a De La Hoya match. On June 23, 2001, Pacquiao defeated Lehlohonolo Ledwaba by technical knockout at 59 seconds of round 6 to capture a title at 122 pounds. In the main event of that PPV at the MGM Grand, De La Hoya defeated Javier Castillejo via 12-round unanimous decision to capture his first title at 154 pounds.

Size seems to be the featured aspect of this match-up. A politician in the Philippines tried to have Pacquiao's boxing license suspended by the country's Games and Amusements Board to prevent Pacquiao from being hurt by this huge American. Rufus Rodriguez told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, "We have to protect him (Pacquiao). He is a national treasure." HBO.com had 9 different boxing writers from 9 different publications predict what would happen in this match. All 9 journalists picked De La Hoya with 7 taking the American by knockout, and they all cited DeLa Hoya's size advantage as the deciding factor.

Many people arethinking this is just Pacquiao is moving up 17 pounds from his match in March to this match. Adding 17 pounds in 1 year is not unprecedented or 41 pounds over a career. Bernard Hopkins moved up 15 pounds from 160 pounds to 175 pounds to defeat Antonio Tarver and several heavyweight champions have added in the neighborhood of 41 pounds throughout their career. However, in terms of percentage of body weight the number of pounds that Pacquiao is adding may be unprecedented. Pacquiao is adding about 50% more weight to his frame then when he began his boxing career. That is largely unprecedented. Hopkins move up in weight was less then 10% of his body weight. Pacquiao is adding 15% more weight to his frame in 9 months and that has not been attempted in boxing for about 70 years. The MMA equivalent of Pacquiao moving up this much weight to defeat De La Hoya would be if BJ Penn were to move up and beat today's Randy Couture at heavyweight.

Pacquiao weighed in at the heaviest weight of his career for his last match, 134.5 pounds. On June 28, 2008, Pacquiao took the WBC title at 135 pounds from David Diaz via technical knockout at 2:24 of round 9.

Pacquiao is The Ring's number 2 contender at 135 pounds, behind their champion in the weight class, Juan Manuel Marquez. Pacquiao beat Marquez in a controversial 12-round split decision on March 15, 2008 to win the vacant Ring Championship at 130 pounds. Most of the rounds of the match were very close. Both boxers were severely cut in the match. The 2 boxers would have had their second draw, but for a knockdown Pacquiao scored in round 3 giving the Filipino the match on the deciding scorecard, 114-113. That match will be replayed on December 27 on HBO. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/12/9/recap-of-manny-pacquiao-vs-juan-manuel-marquez-ii.html

Following the victory over Marquez, Pacquiao was The Ring's number 2 ranked boxer in the world, pound-for-pound. When Floyd Mayweather, Jr. officially "retired" from boxing a few months later, Pacquiao became The Ring's number1 ranked best pound-for-pound boxer in the world. That title is on the line for Pacquiao in this match. However, De La Hoya would not get the title with a victory. Marquez is currently ranked number 2 in The Ring's pound-for-pound list, and it would be very hard for The Ring to jump Marquez over Pacquiao should Pacquiao lose this match. Therefore, the new pound-for-pound king would probably be Joe Calzaghe, who is currently number 3 in the rankings, should Pacquiao lose this match.

At 29-years-old, Pacquiao is 6 years younger then the 35-year-old De La Hoya. De La Hoya has the height advantage standing 5' 10.5" tall, while Pacquiao stands 5' 6.5" tall. The American has the reach advantage with a 24" arm length, compared to the 23" arm length of Pacquiao. Shockingly, Pacquiao will be the heavier boxer in the ring. He has apparently taken full advantage of the legendary Las Vegas buffets and is unofficially up 6.5 pounds since the official weigh-ins to 148.5 pounds approaching match time. Pacquiao was unofficially up to 147 pounds when he entered the ring versus Diaz. However, it makes no sense for Pacquiao's weight to fluctuate like that on the day of a match that he came in 5 pounds under the weight limit. De La Hoya has only gained 2 pounds since the official weigh-ins and is unofficially up to 147 pounds approaching match. Freddie Roach has speculated that De La Hoya has been starving himself to make weight and the unofficial weights indicate that De La Hoya should begin to tire starting in round 4. The last time De La Hoya was this light at the official weigh-ins was on January 18, 1997, nearly 12 years ago. However, when he had rehydrated after the weigh-ins, De La Hoya was probably larger then 147 pounds walking into the ring. Both boxers are naturally left-handed. However, only Pacquiao boxes out of the southpaw stance. Pacquiao is the first boxer that employs the southpaw stance that De La Hoya has faced since Hector Camacho, Sr. on September 13, 1997. De La Hoya scored 2 knockdowns on the way to taking a 12-round decision from the aging veteran. De La Hoya boxes out of the orthodox stance. That has allowed him to more easily land his powerful left hook. According to HBO.com, De La Hoya is slightly less then a 2-to-1 betting favorite.

Two of the official judges keeping score of this match from ringside are from Nevada and the other is from South Africa. Unfortunately, 1 of the Nevada judges is Adalaide Byrd, who is one of the worst high profile judges in the sport. Many of her scorecards have become infamous. The referee is Tony Weeks, who is excellent.

Now for the celebrity roll call for this event: Usher, James Caan, who is sitting next to James Carville in a track suit? Las Vegas is a special place. Former Indiana Pacer Reggie Miller is here, so is Thomas Hearns, Antonio Margarito, and Mike Tyson (who looks awful). Golden Boy Promotions partner Shane Mosley is in the building and so is Golden Boy Promotions' champion boxer Ricky Hatton.

Pacquiao is coming out to the great song by Queen "We Will Rock You". More competitors in combat sports need to come out to both Queen songs and songs by gay musicians. When someone finally comes out to "Bohemian Rhapsody" or Elton John the world will be a better place. This is probably the loudest pop a De La Hoya opponent has received in years.

Pacquiao's speed has De La Hoya missing with most of his punches in round 1. Pacquiao lands several straight left hands in round 1, that already have De La Hoya's face turning red. The Filipino takes round 1, 10-9. Lederman scores round 1 for Pacquiao, 10-9. With over 1:30 to go in round 2, there is a small welt forming to the side of De La Hoya's left eye. It is not effecting De La Hoya's vision. Pacquiao uses his speed to win round 2, 10-9. Lederman scores round 2 for Pacquiao, 10-9. Pacquiao easily wins round 3, 10-9, and is ahead on my scorecard after 3 rounds, 30-27. Lederman has both round 3 and the match scored the same. De La Hoya appears incredibly slow and has no defensive movement. Therefore, Pacquiao is landing over half of the power punches he throws. In the mean time, Pacquiao has never looked faster. His head and upper body movement are so good that De La Hoya does not punch, because he does not know where to aim his punches. The most consistent punch for De La Hoya has been the left hook to the body, because Pacquiao's ribs dodge slower then his head.

Pacquiao dominates round 4 to win it on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. The Filipino is using his speed to become more dominant in the match with every round. De La Hoya did well in the last minute of round 5. However, Pacquiao brutalized the future Hall of Famer in the opening 2 minutes to the point it was getting tough to watch this happen to a legend. Pacquiao wins round 5, 10-9. Through 5 rounds, the power punching statistics are a bit disturbing. De La Hoya has landed 37 of the 125 power punches he has thrown, for a 30% power connect percentage. Pacquiao has landed 105 of the 178 power punches he has thrown, for a nearly inhuman 59% power connect percentage. Lederman scores round 5 for Pacquiao, 10-9. De La Hoya tried to win round 6 by being a defensive counter-puncher. It did not work. Pacquiao wins round 6, 10-9, and is ahead on my scorecard after 6 rounds, 60-54. At this point, the swelling around De La Hoya's left eye has grown significantly. It does not appear to be effecting his vision, yet. However, it could in a few more rounds. Pacquiao takes round 6 on the Lederman scorecard, 10-9, and leads on Lederman's scorecard after 6 rounds, 60-54.

Round 7 is probably the worst of De La Hoya's career. In round 7, Pacquiao lands the most power shots ever landed on De La Hoya in any round of his career. Pacquiao landed 45 power punches on De La Hoya in round 7. There was about 1:30 where De La Hoya stood with his back against the ropes and let Pacquiao hit him and did not punch back. The referee came very close to stopping the match. However, De La Hoya has not been knocked down and was only knocked out by another number 1 pound-for-pound boxer, Bernard Hopkins at 160 pounds. Therefore, very few boxers are going to get a greater benefit of the doubt in this situation then De La Hoya. The beating De La Hoya took in round 7 made the swelling around his left eye exponentially worse. The eye is now nearly swollen completely shut and De La Hoya may have limited vision out of the eye at best. Beristain warned De La Hoya in the corner after round 7, that if De La Hoya takes more punches like he did in round 7 they will throw in the towel. Lederman scores round 7 for Pacquiao, 10-8. That is probably the correct score. Pacquiao wins round 8, 10-9. At this point, De La Hoya looks mentally and physically beaten. It is being stopped in the corner. Beristain wanted to throw in the towel now or offered to let De La Hoya have 1 more round. De La Hoya did not say that he wanted 3 more minutes with Pacquiao to try and win this match. Beristain, understood De la Hoya's silence for code that he wanted no more of the quicker younger boxer. That is how it appears Oscar De La Hoya is going to end his in-ring boxing career.

The official outcome from Michael Buffer is that: at 3:00 of round 8 the referee has called a stop to this contest making the winner by technical knockout and still the number 1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world, Manny "Pac Man" Pacquiao. The win moves Pacquiao to 48-3-2 with now 36 wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers have Pacquiao landing 224 of the 585 total punches he threw, for a 21% total connect percentage. Pacquiao landed 195 of the 333 power punches he threw. for a troubling 59% power connect percentage. De La Hoya landed 83 of the 402 total punches he threw, for a 38% total connect percentage. The American landed 51 of the 164 power punches he threw, for a 31% power connect percentage.

De La Hoya said in his post match interview that Pacquiao was better then him. The veteran said he mentally wanted to keep boxing, but his body does was not there tonight. De La Hoya said he was going to go home and think about retirement, rather then announce something in the ring. Bernard Hopkins who was in the ring with De La Hoya and has had numerous comebacks was telling De La Hoya he could rebound from this loss. However, it appears that De La Hoya seems to know this is the end. A press conference should be expected shortly to announce the inevitable.

Pacquiao said to De La Hoya before he began his own interview that, "You are still my idle." De La Hoya responded, "No. Now, you're my idle." The torch has been passed. The King is dead. Long live the King!

The hero of the Philippines said in his post match interview that he knew his speed would give him the edge in this match. Pacquiao was asked what he thought was going on in the Philippines as everyone had just watched him win. This made Pacquiao smile and laugh with the pride of a man who has probably just captured the greatest sports victory in the history of his country. Arum then pointed out that the Vice President of the Philippines was standing behind Pacquiao in the ring as part of the boxer's entourage. A governor and several mayors from the Philippines are also there as part of the Pacquiao entourage. Vice President Cheney or Vice President-elect Biden are unlikely to ever be in any boxer's entourage. Pacquiao already has his own postage stamp. He may now have his own city. There is talk that he may eventually be the president of the Philippines.

Hopefully, De La Hoya's career is over. He appeared great in May and he aged over night in these 8 rounds. Following the loss, De La Hoya has dropped out of The Ring's rankings at 154 pounds. De La Hoya walked over to Roach who had said that he could not "pull the trigger" anymore immediately after Beristain threw in the towel. The boxer told his former trainer, "Freddie, you're right. I don't have it anymore." De La Hoya was not at the post-match press conference to answer more questions about his future. That was not by choice. The stoppage loss mandated he spend potentially the final night of his career as an active boxer in the hospital. De La Hoya will walk away as the biggest money draw in the history of the sport. When the final numbers are tallied, De La Hoya will have done over $700 million on PPV in the United States. That is about $150 million more then second place. He will retire having drawn the number 1 and 2 or 3 biggest gates in the history of the sport. Every De La Hoya match was a mini-economic stimulus package, bringing in roughly $1 billion to the US economy through direct or indirect revenue. De La Hoya will have faced 3 different boxers ranked as the number 1 pound-for-pound boxer in the sport in his final 5 matches at 3 different weight classes. That is a feat unlikely to be equaled. He holds victories over several Hall of Famers and future Hall of Famers. De La Hoya faced all of the top boxers of his era from 130 pounds to 160 pounds. He is unquestionably an all-time great and one of the last household names in the sport. De La Hoya has used his boxing success to build a financial empire that will benefit boxers and regular people for decades. He has done things in boxing and through boxing that it does not appear anyone will be able to match for decades. His loss today is truly a sad thing for boxing.

Pacquiao winning like this is shocking. His defensive skills were better then ever in this match. It seems the more weight Pacquiao adds the better he gets. The Ring has made Pacquiao the number 5 contender at 147 pounds to their vacant championship in the weight class. Pacquiao reportedly struggled to make 135 pounds in June. Therefore, he is not going to return to that weight class to face Marquez for a third time. Pacquiao does not want to stay at 147 pounds to face Antonio Margarito, which is the most obvious match for him in the division. The pound-for-pound king says his next match will be his debut at 140 pounds. That will make 4 different weight classes in 4 matches. That is going to be a match in the March-June window against Hatton for Hatton's Ring Championship at 140 pounds. The winner of that should face a returning Mayweather on next year's December PPV.

The main event is hard to watch at times and the undercard matches were awful. However, people should work to catch the replay to see what is probably the final match of a Hall of Famers great career.

*The rankings for this event have been updated to reflect where the boxers are currently ranked, except for the main event.

News and Notes: The BALCO grand jury testimony has been released. At the trial Shane Mosley testified to knowingly injecting himself with the illegal performance enhancer EPO and using "the clear" and "the cream" prior to his 2003 rematch with Oscar De La Hoya. Mosley's lawyer said that they are glad these documents have come out, because it reaffirms everything Mosley has been saying publicly for years. Strangely, it seems for years Mosley has been denying using all of those drugs, which probably gave him the advantage to defeat De La Hoya in the late rounds. I believe f4wonline.com's legal team of Officer Karl Stern, Todd Martin, J.D. and Michael Coughlin, J.D. (pending) need to be consulted to help clarify these statements that appear to be directly contradictory. They may all enjoy the mail.

Carl Froch won a title a 168-pound title that had been vacated by Joe Calzaghe on Saturday by defeating Jean Pascal via unanimous decision in Nottingham, England. Froch already has a mandatory challenger in Jermain Taylor.

Another match people should look out for on HBO's best of year end series is also on December 27. That is Miguel Cotto vs. Antonio Margarito. It is not the match of the year, but it is definitely in the top 5. Sadly, it appears HBO will not be replaying one of my favorite matches they had this year, Joel Casamayor vs. Michael Katsidis. It was a wild match on the live portion of the HBO Boxing After Dark Event that featured the Pacquiao-Marquez II replay.

Several wrestlers, like De La Hoya, are naturally left-handed, but strike/wrestle out of the orthodox stance. The most prominent are John Cena and Shawn Michaels. This probably helps explain why many of Cena's moves and strikes look a bit unorthodox. Cena is essentially doing everything backwards of what would feel natural to him. It is nearly impossible to tell Michaels is not right-handed when he wrestles. However, he only throws sweet chin music out of the southpaw stance with his right leg. Michaels has done several angles where he has faked kicking someone with his left leg only to kick the person behind him with his right. In reality, Michaels could not land the super kick with his left leg. Michaels is such a great wrestler that people do not realize they are being worked. This is a huge credit to him.

Also, I would like to thank the benevolent Emperor Bryan Alvarez for letting me continue in his service for 1 year. I started with Bryan doing the recap of the Mayweather vs. Hatton PPV. He has helped make this the most successful year of my professional life and we have plans to do a lot bigger things in year 2. I need to thank the great Mike Sempervive here for getting me in touch with Bryan. There would have been a lot of backsliding this year had it not been for those guys.

The next recap will cover the December 11 Versus event to crown a new Ring Champion at 200 pounds.

Sincerely,

Jereme Warneck

number1contender.net

Boxing and Video Game Correspondent for f4wonline.com

Hidden Valley Lake, CA

I can be reached for feedback and comments at ZurRoadie@aol.com or as JeremeW on XBOX Live. I read everything.