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COULD
Oscar de la Hoya still pull the trigger?
Ask
Steve Forbes, the two-time world champion, who lost to
de la Hoya via unanimous decision in May.
Forbes
talked with the BusinessMirror Monday morning and gave
his thoughts about the intriguing bout between the
Mexican ring idol and Filipino boxing sensation Manny
Pacquiao.
Forbes,
who will vie for the world welterweight crown later this
month, believes it will be a tough fight for Pacquiao,
the four-division world champion who will be skipping
two weight classes to face boxing’s current poster boy.
Forbes
said de la Hoya is still a tough nut to crack and it
will take a real strategic and patient fight plan to
upset the Mexican-American.
“In our
fight I was well prepared. I think he can still pull the
trigger. He still has punching power. I mean, one year
ago he fought a split decision against Floyd Mayweather,”
said Forbes during a telephone conversation. “Nobody has
ever done that. He took a year off and then he fought
me. It’s not like he took any abuse. He fought more
relaxed in the later rounds.”
Forbes
said normally a fighter takes one bout to get a feel of
another division and that itself will make Pacquiao’s
fight against de la Hoya all the more difficult.
“Yeah,
very difficult, I think, because Manny never had one
fight at above 135 pounds. I would say if he had a
couple of fights, maybe 144, then I would say he
probably would feel really comfortable. But I’m just
anxious,” said Forbes.
“Without
having one fight at least with the bigger stronger guy,
I think it’s going to be tough. Really tough. I just
want to see how he is going to do.”
Although
Forbes credited Pacquiao for his achievements, the
former Contender contestant believes de la Hoya’s
power and experience fighting in the welterweight
division will come about in the end.
“Manny
is a great fighter, definitely a hall-of-fame fighter,
but I just think it’s going to be really tough in there
with Oscar. I gotta favor the bigger, stronger guy. I
think the early rounds will be the key,” added Forbes.
“If
Manny can keep moving very fast, jumping in and out, he
can give Oscar a lot of problems and then score. But
Oscar, fifth round or so, he’s just been a strong
puncher. He may be too big and too strong for Manny
Pacquiao in the middle of the fight.”
The
31-year-old Forbes (33-6, 9 knockouts) will vie for the
World Boxing Council welterweight crown against unbeaten
champion André Berto on September 27 at the Staples
Center in Los Angeles, California.
On the
ESPN Reality show Contender Season 2 series
debut, Forbes was chosen to be on the Gold Team. He was
the favorite to win the show, by virtue of his previous
success, and was the last fighter to be called out.
Forbes won his first three bouts of the series,
defeating Freddy Curiel, Nick Acevedo and Cornelius
Bundrage. Forbes lost to Grady Brewer in the final
match.
Forbes
fought de la Hoya on May 3 at the Home Depot Center in
Carson, California and gave the Golden Boy some tensed
moments early in the fight.
In the
de la Hoya’s experience which prevailed as Pacquiao’s
upcoming for won via 120-108, 119-109 and 119-109
tallies.
Meantime, newly-crowned lightweight world champion Juan
Manuel Marquez plans to keep busy and take on major
challengers to remain in contention for the Manny
Pacquiao sweepstakes.
Though
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer sounded
subdued about a possible Pacquiao-Marquez III, it was
obvious he was just trying to get the goat of Pacquiao
to get Marquez that third fight.
“There’s
no way in the world that [Bob] Arum and Pacman want
anything to do with Marquez,” said Schaefer. “Marquez
will fight anyone—and I mean anyone. Has he ever turned
down anyone? No.”
Sunday
morning (Manila time) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in
Las Vegas Marquez stopped Joel Casamayor in the 11th
round to capture the interim World Boxing Organization (WBO)
lightweight and Ring Magazine 135-lb belts.
“The
third fight will probably not happen,” Marquez said
about Pacquiao during the Mexican‘s post-fight presser.
“But I already proved I beat Manny Pacquiao. I did my
job in the ring, now, Manny and Oscar have to do their
part.”
Pacquiao
will meet De La Hoya in a 12-round welterweight
non-title bout on December 6 also at the MGM Grand.
Dennis Principe. |
