Thursday, December 04, 2008 ‘Manny can hurt Oscar’
HAVING felt the power and speed of Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao during their sparring sessions, Rashad Halloway and Marvin Cordova Jr. both see Pacquiao winning his fight against Oscar “Golden Boy” De La Hoya on Dec. 7 (RP time) at the MGM Grand.
The two served as “the taller and heavier fighter” in Pacquiao’s sparring session to help prepare the Pinoy for his fight against De La Hoya.
However, even if they agree that Pacquiao will win, they have different views on the way the 29-year old Filipino world champion will do it.
Halloway, who is the best duplicate of De La Hoya, believes that Pacquiao won’t be able to knockout his 35-year-old opponent but will still triumph in the fight if he sticks to the strategy formulized by Coach Freddie Roach.
“I don’t see Manny knocking Oscar out because Oscar is an experienced fighter who has only been stopped with a kidney shot by Bernard Hopkins,” Halloway told BoxingScene.com. “I think Manny can hurt Oscar, and as long as he keeps to Freddie’s game plan, (if he) goes to the body and stays on Oscar every round, he’ll win.”
Halloway, who has a nine wins and a loss with five knockouts in his career, said that Pacquiao will be targeting De La Hoya’s body in their non-title bout.
“Manny is a very tricky little fighter and the thing about him is that he can explode on you anytime he decides he wants to,” said the 27-year-old boxer from North Carolina. “He’s smaller than I am, but you really have to be careful with him and you have to watch him all the time. Manny is going to go to Oscar’s body, that’s the plan as far as I know it.”
On the other hand, Cordova thinks differently and believes that the Filipino boxing superstar will put to sleep the former Olympian.
“Oscar gets tired after six rounds or so I really think once that happens that Manny will put him away in eight or nine rounds.
I think he’ll knock him out,” he said.
The undefeated Cordova, who has a record of 20 wins and a draw with 11 KOs, feels that De La Hoya is old and is way past his prime.
“Oscar is a great fighter and I’m not taking anything away from him but he’s over-the-hill,” he said. (EKA)
