For a while, soon after the fight was announced, Oscar De La Hoya switched back and forth some; he wasn’t sure if former ring foe and fellow all-time great Manny Pacquiao could defeat Mario Barrios. But then Oscar made up his mind – Manny can and will do it. Tonight we’ll all find out.
De La Hoya, speaking with a throng of media people, doubled down on his pick, with him stating how “machine” Pacquiao will be “too much for Barrios.” De La Hoya says Pac-Man’s fitness along with his work-rate will see him win the rounds in Las Vegas, and with them the fight.
“I have Pacquiao winning because of his footwork – those calves that he has are incredible and amazing,” De La Hoya said. “When he jumps on his toes and confuses you and throws those punches from different angles, he doesn’t get tired. I don’t care if he’s 50,000 years old, he’s not going to get tired. He’s a machine. I think the workload is going to be too much for Barrios.”
What Makes Pacquiao a ‘Machine’ at 46?
So, is De La Hoya right here? Or maybe, being sucked in by nostalgia as utterly tempting as it is, is De La Hoya thinking of the old Manny, or the young Manny, you get what I mean? In his prime, Pac-Man WAS a machine, and yet today, even if he is in great shape for a man of his years, there will be a real danger of Pacquiao running into something hot and heavy from Barrios and being taken out.
Maybe Manny will not get tired, but could he get knocked out? Barrios, who says his timing will beat Pacquiao’s speed, has been studying that famously brutal and shocking one-punch KO Juan Manuel Marquez scored over Pacquiao all those years ago. Might we see something similar tonight?
Could Barrios’s Power Finally Stop the Legend?
De La Hoya is far from alone in picking Manny to do it, and with all respect to Mario Barrios, almost all fans who watch tonight’s WBC welterweight title fight will be pulling for Manny.
Pick: Yeah, I’m in. Pacquiao by close, perhaps debatable decision win.