Pacquiao by KO? Of course, because he must

Freddie Roach, the award-winning trainer of Manny Pacquiao, is not just a master of physical conditioning and tactics, he is a genius in psychological warfare as well. And he sticks to a neat timetable that outlines his entire preconceived regimen.

When he boldly predicted a few days ago that Pacquiao will knock Oscar de la Hoya out inside of nine rounds in their 12-round December 6 fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Roach was not hurling a fist at the moon.

A knockout is always a possibility in an activity wherein two men paid to throw punches at each other are trapped inside an 18 feet by 18 feet roped off ring. The possibility becomes even greater when those two men have defined their boxing careers by a lot of knockouts.

Of course, just as the possibility is great that Pacquiao can knock de la Hoya out, so is the possibility that it can be the other way around. Under present circumstances, however, my gut feeling is to go along with Roach.

As a Filipino, I am naturally rooting for Pacquiao. But nationality has got nothing to do with my going along with the knockout prediction of Roach. As a boxing fan, I know for a fact that if there is anyone who can knock de la Hoya out, it has got to be Pacquiao.

There are two reasons for this. The obvious one is that Pacquiao has power in both fists and is not known as a knockout artist for nothing. The other reason is that Pacquiao has to go for a knockout to win.

De la Hoya is taller by four inches than Pacquiao and is naturally bigger. There is no way Pacquiao can settle for cautious long-range exchanges and hope to win on points against what would amount to be a giant by boxing standards comparison.

All things being equal, even in this "unequal" fight, Pacquiao is in grave danger of getting knocked out himself. After all, Oscar de la Hoya is the Oscar de la Hoya. Age may have slowed and weakened him, but it definitely has not turned him into a wet potato bag.

Right now, there is not much we can truly glean from the trainings being undertaken by either fighter. There is only a trickle of news coming from the de la Hoya camp. And while a deluge is coming from the Pacquiao camp, most are biased reporting by Filipino sports scribes.

Indeed, if you believe even half of what is being reported in Filipino newspapers, it would seem as if, like the wolf in the Three Little Pigs story, all Pacquiao has to do on December 6 is climb up the ring and huff and puff and blow poor Oscar de la Hoya down.

But boxing is a very unpredictable sport, even if history, statistics, and fight records do provide a useful basis for making predictions. Once inside the ring, documents mean nothing to the boxers who only have their wits and their skills to rely on.

Even the prediction of Roach, and my own agreement with that prediction, will mean nothing unless Pacquiao measures up to the challenge before him and then overcomes that challenge in the only way it can be overcome.

If there is one thing I am always uncomfortable with the style of Pacquiao, it is his absolute lack of style. He is more of the rushing type who just bewilders his opponents with his quickness and his sheer power.

His capacity to absorb hard punches has not been truly proven, mainly because he is able to deliver his bombs first. Often, this has proven to be enough. Once opponents start to feel the power of Pacquiao, they often end up failing to deliver their own.

This time, Pacquiao is facing someone whose skills and dimensions cannot be easily overwhelmed but on the contrary is capable of doing the overwhelming himself. And that is why Pacquiao should be driven to go for the kill. And that is why he just might knock Oscar out.