Bad fight for boxing

Only because I am a Pinoy will I watch the coming fight between Manny Pacquiao and Oscar de la Hoya. Like the millions of Manny's fans worldwide, I certainly pray that he will take the scalp of his foe like he did in his other bouts. He is reported to possess that speed which is more than enough to compensate his height and reach disadvantage and the kind of power which while many of his lighter opponents felt with malicious force, should prove, hopefully, to carry an intimidating impact, this time, upon a welterweight.

When news broke about the camps of Pacquiao and de la Hoya's exploring, just exploring, a chance of their match, I knew it was an event that was sure to happen. Money had its peculiar way of realizing improbable undertakings. The purse each of them expected from such a contest was too big to pass. Both of them could not get that huge sum fighting any other opponent. In the case of Pacquiao, he could possibly amass that amount of money from a total of three or four more fights with other guys, not de la Hoya, but, he would run the risk of a lucky punch in any of his bouts frustrating his expectation.

For de la Hoya, facing Manny would be a very marketable contest. He imagined his own promotions outfit teaming up with that of Mr. Bob Arum's, projecting a must-see exciting fight against a relentless Asian for an opponent. What he would not dare tell us was that he would feel much safer trading blows with our own Manny than getting into the ring against the likes of a Margarito in a lighter division or a Pavlik in a heavier poundage.

The coming Pacquiao-de la Hoya square off will not be good to boxing as a sport. Because, to me, it is anchored on selfish consideration, it is likely to set a dangerous and unwholesome precedence. I'll be glad to be proven wrong. Anyway, let me explain.

For many decades, the sport of boxing has recognized several divisions each one of which has its weight limits. For example, there is the junior lightweight (or super featherweight) for boxers fighting at 130 pounds where before Pacquiao Filipinos, like Flash Elorde, Ben Villaflor, Rene Barrientos, and Rolando Navarrete reigned as world champions. Boxing scholars and sports doctors agree that for their protection, pugilists should ideally be matched against one another for as long as they belong to the same weight levels. In other words, no weight discrepancy. At certain times though, a boxer takes on an opponent of a heavier weight, but to compensate their weight differential, they are contracted to meet at a common weight.

The divisions lower than heavyweights are separated by an average of 5 pounds or lighter the rationale being that a difference in weight of over five pounds puts the lighter boxer at a serious disadvantage and a consequential greater risk. Many times, this philosophy has been supported by cold facts coming out of actual mismatches.

Pacquiao, few days ago, claimed to be comfortable at 147 pounds, his stipulated fight weight with de la Hoya, saying that he could no longer go back to the weight in his last fight, 12 pounds lighter at the 135 mark.. Elorde, a 130 pounder, was comfortable at 135 pitting skills with Carlos Ortiz and Argentinian Alexis Arguello, a 135 pound world champion, was comfortable in his bout with Aaron Pryor, the 140 pound title holder. Both Elorde and Arguello miserably lost because the power of their punches where they were world kings was not as impactful at the heavier level.

Okay, Manny is a more powerful puncher. Everyone seems to admit that. Yet, at 135 pounds, it took him many rounds to knock out David Diaz whose only function that night was to catch every mean punch the Pinoy threw. Unfortunately for Manny, that situation can not be repeated with de la Hoya. not only because Oscar is taller and bigger man but because golden boy is a lot better boxer than Diaz. This is an equation where our champion is on the losing end. 

While I thus, foresee, in this bout, a successful monetary venture for Manny, I fear that it can become a bad night for boxing in the sense that this contest may just bedevil other lighter boxers into taking a serious risk of fighting heavier opponents simply because the money bag is difficult to refuse.