They were merely former champions
Delahoya, morales, barrera, marquez... For once i agree they are just nobody. They were merely former champions. I want to see a real tile fight, not another mexican bitch slapping.
by lyle fitzsimmons - ok… first things first.
Yes, i saw saturday night’s fight. Yes, i’m crystal clear on the result.
Yes, manny pacquiao whipped oscar de la hoya like he’d never been whipped.
In a way i didn’t think he could be whipped.
Simply put, i was wrong. And the myriad people who’ve dropped e-mails in the interim since the final bell… kudos and congratulations to you all. You were right.
Of course, i didn’t see any of your predictions beforehand, but i’ll take for granted that each and every one of you “knew” it was going to go down exactly as it did – in spite of heavy betting odds and general pre-fight consensus to the contrary.
That’s just the kind of guy i am.
And there… now that we’ve firmly established those points, here’s another:
I’m still not convinced.
So while cable tv analysts and clever e-mailers have been breathlessly invoking the multi-division ghosts of armstrong and robinson, i’m a little less willing to cede mr. Pacquiao his place alongside those immortals quite yet.
To me anyway, there’s a little more work to be done.
Though the one-sided nature of his victory was beyond any argument, a few hard facts nonetheless remain about exactly what the filipino sensation accomplished in las vegas.
He beat a 35-year-old former welterweight… not a reigning champion.
He beat a man who’d been .500 in his last six fights… not a streaking contender.
He still holds zero legitimate titles in any weight class… not three, as armstrong did.
And while none of this diminishes the virtuosity he displayed saturday – and none of it changes the fact that i thought oscar would win decisively – it ought to inject at least a smidgen of reality into the “pacquiao is god” chatter that’s been growing louder by the second. details]