THE DEATH OF A DYNASTY MAILBAG
This morning I wake up off of 3 hours of sleep because honestly I am still shocked over the fact that the Pac-Man destroyed and dethroned Oscar De La Hoya last night. The graphic images kept and keep re-playing in my own mind, I kept tossing and turning, but in the end I realized that I couldn’t win in this battle against just staying up. My body wanted me to try to get some sleep while my mind was forcing me to throw in the towel and just stay up. My body was Oscar De La Hoya and my mind was Manny Pacquiao. My body didn’t have what it takes to defeat my mind. My mind took over. So let’s get to it and answer these e-mails.
Where does oscar go from here? I say that he should hang up the gloves, why keep trying to fight. Oscar will only hurt his legacy more than he already has. Danny, Surprise,Az.
Danny thanks for writing in, Well Danny, I would say that half of me agrees with you that Oscar should retire, but then again the other half would not want to see him going out on a losing note. I am sure that Oscar will have some real soul searching to do in these upcoming days that lay ahead. Sorry to not really answer your question, but at this certain time that’s just how I feel about it. I mean I guess the best way to answer that question is to ask yourself that very same question that you just asked, but try answering that question as Oscar De La Hoya. Put yourself in Oscar’s shoes, What would you do?
Albert, why in the hell did Oscar do so much better against Mayweather than he did against that shrimp? Louie, Avondale
Well Louie, only answer that comes to mind is styles make fights. Mayweather is a completely different fighter than Pac-Man.. Mayweather’s style is defense first while throwing 15-25 effective punches a round, in other words in fighting against Mayweather you have more time in working out your shots in your mind before you actually throw them. With Pac-Man, it’s a whole different story, Pac-Man is a tazmanian devil a freakin typhoon that keeps firing shot after shot after shot, It’s hard to think offense when you are being put on the defensive every second of the round.
What happened to Oscar, I saw the 24/7 shows and he looked great he even had Angelo Dundee with him, I am so pissed off, what do you think happened? Steve, Phoenix
Steve, I too saw every 24/7 show leading up to the massacre of fight this truly was and one image keeps replaying in my mind. That image is of the legendary Angelo Dundee looking into the camera and saying ‘’ I think Oscar looks great in the gym, my only concern is that I hope he doesn’t leave it all here.'’ Now I know that last night before the fight they showed Oscar entering the MGM Grand, but I feel that he showed up without really showing up.
Albert why was Marquez able to put up much more of a fight than Oscar did, Why do you think Oscar lost the way he did? Mario, Tempe
To me Mario, in all honesty I feel that the reason or reasons why Oscar lost the way he did can be found in one of these reasons that I am about to list right now.
A. he over trained and left it all at the gym.
B. he made the mistake of being right around the 147 pound mark for all those weeks in training, when the smart thing to do would have been to slow and steady ease your way down to the 147 pound limit. Which explains why Oscar to me looked so drained at the weigh-in, and at the fight he looked like he had logs tied to his calves and his arms looked lifeless as did his face.
C. ever since his knock out loss to Bernard Hopkins some four years ago, Oscar from that point on developed a psychological problem. Paulie Malignaggi has the same very problem, Paulie’s is that he is afraid to throw his right, he knows that he can be effective with it, but his mental state is telling him not to throw it because he may break it. Which is why Paulie only threw it like 4-5 times in his last fight against Hatton, and guess what? They also stopped that fight as well. Before Hopkins, Oscar had never been knocked out, Oscar was known as a fighter that if he got knocked down that he will get back up and finish you, but against Hopkins all that came to an end. In Hopkins, Oscar was hit with a fatal shot that he couldn’t recover from. As a result, Oscar knows that he can jab his way to victory but his mental state is telling him not to jab in fear that he may get countered hard enough to taste the canvas, his mental state doesn’t want to be put in position to have to decide if it’s worth getting up. I noticed it in the Mayweather fight during the second half. In the first half, Mayweather had no answer for the jab, in the second half, Oscar’s mental state took over and he went long periods without throwing anything, last night Oscar lost the fight before he even entered the ring, which is why he was frozen the entire fight. Oscar also froze against Forbes in small periods, the last fight in which he didn’t freeze was against Mayorga, but Mayorga is not a speedy counterpuncher like Pac-Man, Forbes, Mayweather, or Hopkins now is he? Ironicaly enough, Oscar’s arch rival, Felix Trinidad also was never the same fighter after Hopkins knocked him out. Trinidad’s last great hit was also against Mayorga, Then he faced the counter puncher Winky Wright and got completely shut out for all 12 rounds, then he followed that up and also froze against the counterpuncher Roy Jones Jr.
I don’t know about you Mario, but I like reason C., and not just cause it’s a longer reason either. The proof is in the pudding.
Hate to say it but the Golden Boy is not Golden anymore…Is his legacy still Golden? David, Peoria
Oscar will now be known as a man that carried the sport on his back and took it as far as only his back could support, a man that made the sport mainstream just as Mike Tyson had done before him and Sugar Ray Leonard before Tyson. The face of the sport that was a real good fighter who took on everyone that ‘’mattered'’ but just couldn’t get it together in the fights that really ‘’mattered'’. The only thing that looked Golden last night was Manny Pacquiao’s Future. As for Oscar, he will always be the Golden Boy.
Albert please play matchmaker for us again, who would you like to face Manny next? Armand, Glendale
Well Armand all fingers are pointing to Hatton, but if I am Floyd Mayweather Jr. I would come out of retirement and call out Pacquiao today and make the fight happen.. Since Floyd is so eager to be the ‘’Next Golden Goose'’ of boxing, Floyd has always wanted to be loved and embraced as the face of the sport as well as being the sports highest moneymaker, but Floyd knew and knows that with Oscar in the picture he would always be second best. What better time than now? Here’s an idea for you Floyd, Sign a one fight deal with Golden Boy Promotions and say that you want to fight Pacquiao not just because he is the number one fighter pound for pound the title that you would like to fight him for, but also because you would like to avenge Oscar’s loss and for all the great Mexican warriors that Pacquiao has beaten along the way. You avenging America’s darling will make you a very popular figure and a loved one, finally. You showing up at the press conferences with an American and Mexican flag under the Golden Boy banner, and then you wearing the same Mexican colored trunks that you sported against Oscar while being walked into the ring with Oscar at your side….. I gotta tell you, at this time the story is writing itself…I’m done painting a picture like Picasso…
Posted by: Albert Alvarez