Nothing to lose for Manny

The conventional wisdom is Manny Pacquiao has nothing to lose and everything to gain against Oscar de la Hoya in their blockbuster 12-round duel at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Dec. 6.

On the other hand, De la Hoya has everything to lose and little to gain, meaning the pressure is on the Golden Boy to pull off a convincing win over the WBC lightweight champion.

No title is at stake but neither De la Hoya nor Pacquiao cares. They’re not willing to pay a sanction fee from their purses for recognition because no governing body appears to be big enough to dictate to both fighters.

Ordinarily, a governing body levies a three percent sanction fee on each fighter’s purse. If Pacquiao is guaranteed $10 Million for fighting De la Hoya, he would pay the WBC a fee of $300,000 or roughly P14 Million which isn’t a pittance by any standard.

Franklin McNeil, boxing columnist of the New Jersey Star Ledger, said a Pacquiao loss will mean nothing because “he is the little guy in this fight.” But a loss for De la Hoya would be a huge dent on his reputation.

“Pacquiao will give everything he has once the bell rings,” said McNeil. “But that won’t be enough to discourage De la Hoya who has everything to lose in this showdown.”

McNeil said not even Pacquiao’s pound-for-pound status will be affected if he loses - for as long as he delivers a solid performance. But in McNeil’s analysis, De la Hoya will likely dominate in the bout.

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“The highest Pacquiao has ever fought at is 135 pounds and he has fought at that weight just once,” he continued. “The bottom line: Pacquiao is too small. He began his professional fight career as a junior flyweight (108 pounds). Yes, he packs a powerful punch - but against fighters much smaller than De la Hoya who has campaigned as high as 160 pounds.”

McNeil said Pacquiao won’t be able to rock De la Hoya’s sturdy chin.

“Pacquiao isn’t going to hurt De la Hoya,” he went on. “In fact, Pacquiao has been revealing his intention to do less slugging and more boxing. Pacquiao did say he was stronger. But that is the talk of a fighter who has overwhelmed his previous foes. He is sure to have a different opinion after three rounds with De la Hoya.”

Although McNeil predicted a De la Hoya victory, he said it will do nothing for the Golden Boy’s legacy, adding “it might do more harm than good.”

Before agreeing to face Pacquiao, De la Hoya reportedly waited on Miguel Cotto or Paul Williams or Antonio Margarito. He was reluctant to take on Cotto who is Puerto Rican like his wife Millie but the discussion became academic after the former WBA welterweight king was knocked out by Margarito.

In the end, De la Hoya chose Pacquiao because it was the biggest money fight available.

“It’s a challenge because people are talking,” said De la Hoya. “People are talking that Pacquiao can beat me. Well, we will see.”

De la Hoya once tried to lure Pacquiao into joining the Golden Boy stable with a suitcase of cash amounting to $350,000. He was spurned as Pacquiao decided to stick with Bob Arum of Top Rank Promotions.

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The catchweight limit of 147 pounds for the fight has generated a wide range of comments from experts.

Strength and conditioning coach Kerry Kayes said: “One needs to lose more weight than he should, the other is fighting a much bigger man that he’s previously met. Oscar is the older athlete and as you age, your body composition changes. He’ll now be required to lose a greater amount of body fat than he did, say, five years ago and that concerns me. Conversely, Manny’s additional body weight won’t be all muscle, some of it will just be body fat. It’s a half-way house for both lads.”

British promoter Frank Warren said: “Potentially, it could be dangerous for Pacquiao. Oscar’s seen better days but I still think he’ll be too big for Pacquiao. A lot will depend on whether Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach gets his wish for the fighters to weigh-in on the day of the fight. There definitely needs to be some cap on what they weigh entering the ring to make it level.”

However, Roach’s out-of-the-box suggestion has fallen on deaf ears and the weigh-in will take place the day before fight as is tradition. Still, Roach said he is confident Pacquiao will beat De la Hoya whom he trained for the Mayweather fight.

While working with De la Hoya up close, Roach apparently saw a serious flaw that Pacquiao will no doubt exploit. Roach said he believes De la Hoya is way past his prime and won’t be able to withstand Pacquiao’s furious attack.