By Rick Reeno
Moments ago, it was formerly announced that former six-division champion Oscar De La Hoya (39-5, 30KOs) will be facing WBC lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao (47-3, 35KOs) on December 6 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Pacquiao will make a twelve-pound jump to the agreed upon fight-weight of 147-pounds. The two sides have agreed to use eight-ounce gloves. The event will be carried by HBO pay-per-view.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said this was the one fight that had people talking when they were sizing up all of the opponents.
"Many opponents have been mentioned. There was only one fight that had people talking. Everyone has an opinion one way or another about this matchup. This fight will transcend the sport. This fight will be a fight between two superstars,” Schaefer said. “Two fighters who have captured the imagination of the people. The two most popular fighters in the world. Both guys go forward and don’t know how to go back."
"One is bigger and older, the other is younger and the pound for pound champion. Will it be youth and speed or size and skill. This is a dream matchup, Oscar De La Hoya against the young, reigning pound-for-pound king, Manny Pacquiao.”
Bob Arum, head of Top Rank, said he was thrilled with the fight and feels the event will have global implications.
“I'm thrilled that this fight is taking place. I'll be been involved in many great fights, but this one has world wide implications. An American Olympian, the greatest athlete to ever come out of the Philippines,” Arum said.
“The Filipinos are a great fighting people and Manny Pacquiao is their greatest fighter of all. This fight will be watched and talked about all over Asia, Europe and all over North and South America. This is what boxing is all about. This fight will demonstrate to everyone that no sport universally is more popular than boxing.”
De La Hoya says the fight is a challenge and he considers it a "personal" fight because of the Mexican legends that Pacquiao beat. He doesn’t believe the difference in size and weight will be as big a factor as many people think.
“To me this fight is a challenge. Yes I’m older and I’m bigger. Yes he’s younger and the pound-for-pound champion. When Freddie Roach started saying Manny Pacquiao the fighter I train can beat you, it started to become a challenge to me,” De La Hoya said.
“It’s become very personal to me when Manny Pacquiao beats all of the legendary fighters from Mexico it’s a challenge. People are talking that Manny Pacquiao can beat me, well - we'll see on December 6."
"People will see, there won’t be that much of a size difference when we are standing next to each other. It wont be like Roy Jones against John Ruiz. This really is a big challenge to me.”
Pacquiao made a bold prediction, that he would beat De La Hoya in the fashion as he did David Diaz back in June to capture the WBC title at 135. He believes his speed will the main factor to achieve victory. He doesn’t believe De La Hoya is the stronger man.
“This fight, I know everybody thought this will be a difficult fight for me. I know some people say that it’s a very easy fight for Oscar, but you know what - I always do my job in the ring and do my best to give a good fight and I think I can beat De La Hoya,” Pacquiao said.
“I think I am faster and stronger than him and I’m younger and also I think that I can beat him in the way that I beat Diaz in the last fight. I think the point is - my speed is going to win this fight. Oscar De La Hoya has the advantage in height, he’s taller than me, but I believe that I am stronger than him. It’s going to be a great fight on December 6.”
For weeks, there were a lot of back and forth negotiations over the revenue split. The fight almost fell apart when De La Hoya stood firm on a 70-30 split and Pacquiao wanted a 60-40 split. There was no comment by either side as the final split number.
“Manny has asked me not to talk the numbers, purses or any of the financial elements at this particular point,” Arum said.
The biggest news, other than the fight being announced, was De La Hoya’s reluctance to call this the final fight of his career. For months De La Hoya has called the December bout his career finale -but when asked several times about whether or not he will retire at the end of the year - Oscar said that he won’t make a decision on retirement until the Pacquiao fight is over. He wants to see how he does in the ring, how he feels, and then will get together with his team to decide if there are more fights in store for his career.
“We’ll see after the fight on how I feel if this fight will be my last fight or not. Let’s just say my foot got caught in the door,” De La Hoya said.
