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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 is over triple the best buyrate Pacquiao has ever done.

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 fora long time. De La Hoya had stopped talking to Bob Arum, whowas 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 Hoyaonly 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 are thinking 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 number 1 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 powerfulleft 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. However, people should work to catch the replay to see what is probably the final match of a Hall of Famers great career.