Money defies logic

MONEY DEFIES LOGIC
Ericson Sarmiento Dela Cruz
erik_boxing@yahoo.com

posted at boxingcapital.com on 02 Sept 2008
link: http://boxingcapital.com/News_Article_DLHPac_Erik010908.html

Seven years and 25 pounds ago, he was at the undercard of the sports biggest star who was then fighting Javier Castillejo. It was the night when Manny Pacquiao announced his arrival to the US boxing scene by dispatching south African Lehlo Ledwaba with powerful, accurate and lightning fast combinations to win the IBF super-bantamweight title via six-round stoppage. That stellar win by the fiery Filipino knock-out artist was even magnified many times more by the amount of exposure he got for fighting that same night with his boyhood hero: the legendary Oscar De La Hoya.

Now, the Filipino speedster who was introduced to the world that night with his mispronounced name is set to fight the same guy who helped him banner his name and boost his marketability across the boxing world and business conglomerates. He was then a super-bantam; Oscar then was already comfortably fighting at the light-middleweight division. The 154 lb weight limit. It was six divisions north of Pacquiao’s 122 lb division. To even think of the possibility of a match-up between the two at that time was downright idiotic, if not complete lunacy.

But boy, here are the two biggest stars of boxing separated by many divisions set to clash on December 6 this year. Everything has reportedly been ironed-out, paving the way for what could be one of the richest fights in history.

On the surface, the biggest stumbling block that seemed keeping the much hyped fight from happening was the huge size discrepancy. Manny is (now) a small lightweight and Oscar has comfortably campaigned at light-middleweight for some years now. But no, size doesn’t matter when money talks. It was not the size, which, by logic and any philosophy should dictate match-ups. It was, unfortunately, the greed. Both camps had a hard time convincing the other to accept their offer and counter-offers about how the purse should be divided. A $100 million dollar fight is too lucrative for Oscar and Manny to just turn their back on.

When money talks, size doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter that the electrifying Pinoy performer has started fighting at 107 and the most celebrated figure in boxing at 130. It doesn’t matter that Pac is now a bloated lightweight and Oscar a bona fide junior middleweight. It doesn’t matter that Pac is fighting in his 10th weight class and Oscar is going back to the division he ruled some years ago. It doesn’t matter that Pac would report between 142-145 lbs come fight night and Oscar between 160-165 lbs. The size discrepancy is too huge. By logic, the fight is a total mismatch and should not happen. But here is where money comes to fix everything. The god money can defy logic. The god money can defy everything.

There are reasons for divisions; the same reasons why other safety measures were instituted to moderate the innate brutality of the sport. The same surgical brutality that impaired Freddie Roach speech. Roach should have known better when he called out the fight. He’d be putting his most prized fighter’s health and career in jeopardy! The sport is too brutal and the damages it inflicts to fighters are irreversible. Ray Robinson could only be so sorry for the life of Jimmy Doyle. But anyway, discounting death aside as it seemed to be a remote possibility on the Pacquiao-De La Hoya match, $20 million is a good figure to laugh your way to the hospital.

That would be a hell lot of money. But is it worth the damage he is going to take that could possibly end his illustrious career? Pac fans could only hope that Roach is not mistaken in thinking that Oscar can no longer pull the trigger as he once could.

People are using De La Hoya’s last ring action as a springboard for a rather outrageous claim that Pac could upset the Barcelona Olympic gold medalist. Roach even went further by saying that his guy could KO the man he helped shaped up against Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Steve Forbes, a small guy hand picked to give Oscar some kind of a hard sparring session, was “surprisingly” able to redden the face of the Golden Boy. But Forbes was there to lose, and Oscar, with little respect to the sting of his opponents’ punches, left his face open in search for openings. To think that Oscar would do the same against the pound-for-pound king on December 6 was downright stupid. The 35 year old fighter who “unofficially” beat Floyd Mayweather last year was too smart of a fighter to let the most devastating puncher in the business nail him with flush clean shots. If there was something that Oscar was known for aside for his exquisite left, was his ring smarts and fight complexion awareness. The final scorecards of the De La Hoya-Forbes sparring were very telling: 120-108 and 119-109 twice. Its very lopsided and a testament of how De La Hoya merely toyed with the undersized and underpowered but very game Forbes. He can no longer pull the trigger? Pac fans could only wish Roach was correct.

Pac’s last outing, on the other hand, was a very electrifying performance and a complete dominance of his bigger opponent. He was all over Dangerous David in every seconds of every round nailing him with every kind of shots. The performance was too good that people have dreamed of the same outcome against lightwelter king Ricky Hatton and the legendary Oscar De La Hoya. But sorry to Pac’s legion of loyal fans, Oscar was no David. The difference between the two is wider than the pacific.

Oscar may already be past his best. The sting of his left hook may had already been diminished, his footworks many no longer be as flashy as before, and his defense may no longer be as solid as it was once, but his good chin and first-rate ring awareness were enough to beat a naturally smaller man, specially those who started their career at 107. The power of his left, diminished as it seemed, was more than enough to bother small guys. He may no longer be as effective as the Oscar before the Mosley fight, but he was still the same Oscar who was able to effectively close the gap between him and the flashy and defensive master Floyd.

The fight is too easy for businessman Oscar as it was too dangerous for lightweight Manny. It could be nothing more than a farcical exhibit of one guy trying to make it look competitive and the other guy trying everything to overcome the great odds.

Oscar had many choices of fights to close his 16 years of illustrious career—fights that could very well be risky but meaningful. There is no shame in losing to Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito or Paul Williams, especially at this advancing stage of his career. Unfortunately for true boxing fans, those fights just happen to be less profitable than the Pacquiao fight.