Come back at 6PM Pacific and we’ll start blogging the undercard and then the main event.
We have a preview up with insight from writers like George Kimball, Bill Dwyre, and Tim Kawakami.
See you in a couple of hours.
Daniel Jacobs and Victor Lares is up first.
Jacobs made quick work of Lares. The ref stopped it after the first knockdown.
Juan Manuel Lopez is next against Sergio Medina.
Even quicker than the first fight. Medina sat up on the ropes, covered his face and just took punches. He went down three times and it was over. Pitiful performance by Medina.
Jim Lampley says that Oscar weighed in earlier today at 147 while Manny weighed in at 148 1/2. I figured De La Hoya would be at 155 by now.
With the early KOs, they have a lot of time to fill. It’s the Lampley and Merchant show right now.
Victor Ortiz and Jeff Resto are up now.
Ortiz knocked him down twice in the first round. Resto decided to fight right handed. I’m guessing he was having trouble seeing Ortiz’s straight left.
They showed Usher, James Caan, Reggie Miller, Tommie Hearns, Antonio Margarito, Iron Mike Tyson, and Sugar Shane Mosely in the crowd.
Keisha Cole is singing the National Anthem. Was Kelis busy?
Manny comes out to the ring with We Will Rock You as his entrance music. That must be his favorite karaoke song. I was hoping that Endless Love featuring he and his wife singing karaoke was going to be his entrance music.
Mike Buffer just told us to get ready to rumble. Or wait, he might’ve told Pacquiao and De La Hoya that.
You can hear the boos when Oscar was introduced. Manny’s fans are doing their job.
Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao
R1
Manny is definitely quicker and he’s in and out. Oscar is a little more stiff. Manny has landed two straight lefts already. I think Oscar’s right hand is going to need to be a factor in this fight just the way Manny is moving around so much and is so awkward. Manny is landing the straight left at will. Oscar has landed some good shots, but just not as many as Manny.
R2
Oscar hasn’t timed him yet. Manny is throwing lead straight lefts and Oscar has taken a bunch of them. Oscar right now is a stationary fighter. He hasn’t thrown the left yet because Manny isn’t standing still. That’s two rounds for Manny.
R3
Oscar is looking to land the left hook, but the only way he’s going to get it off is when Manny throws a left hand that misses and he’s a little off balanced. It’s only happened once or twice and Oscar hasn’t landed it. It’s not like Manny is hurting Oscar, but he’s very visibly landing shots where Oscar is just a step slow. 3-0.
R4
Oscar finally landed his hook, but Manny landed two right hands to the face. Manny is fighting brilliantly. He’s getting just inside enough to land punches but Oscar can’t hit him getting out of there. It’s like Tom and Jerry. Oscar has no right hand, yet that’s the only punch he can land. Not a good recipe for success. Shutout for Manny so far.
R5
Manny is landing punches at a crazy pace. Oscar looks like he’s fighting in quicksand. Oscar was able to throw a few left hooks, and held Manny while he threw a couple of them. That was the first time he showed that he was the bigger fighter. Still Manny’s round.
R6
Oscar is taking three punches to throw one. Pacquiao hasn’t slowed down one bit from the first round. He’s amazingly busy. It was the slowest round of the first six. It’s hard to tell if Manny is hurting Oscar, but it doesn’t look like it. Still, when you take so many punches without being just as busy, you wonder if he might be either tired or just frustrated.
R7
Oscar has aged 10 years before us. Manny is picking him apart and Oscar isn’t throwing any punches. He’s just taking punishment. That’s as close to a 10-8 round you’ll see without a knockdown.
R8
Probably Oscar’s best round since about round 4, but in no way was he close to winning the round. Manny had him in the corner and Oscar didn’t answer him at all.
Oscar’s corner stopped the fight.
Winner: Manny Pacquaio by way of 8th round TKO
That was utter domination.
Oscar says that his heart wants to fight. But he’s going to think about it. Just watch the replay of this fight. That should make Oscar’s decision.
Larry asked Pacquiao about Hatton, and he was noncommittal.
Photo of Manny Pacquiao by DRal10 and shared via creative commons
PWN4GE. Pac-Man made a statement tonight. One fighter’s star rose, the other’s fell. Similar cliches abound, but it really all boils down to one word: PWN4GE.
Incidentally I haven’t seen anybody sporting so much gold around their neck for a performance since Slick Rick (the Ruler) in his heyday. Wow Keyshia, wow.
Ya man. Keyshia. I even spelled her name wrong.
It was as if the star of Golden Boy was finally snuffed out by the Filipino’s supernova.
For me, it seemed Oscar did what Barrera should have done in his first fight against Manny. It was wise, what Oscar did, to still save some of his legacy’s prestige.
Hey,
Thanks for the comment.
I think it was actually Schaefer who got Nacho to stop the fight according to what I’ve read. No way Oscar was going to ask out of it.