Yes He Can! Pacquiao Stuns and Stops De La Hoya In Eight By Thomas Gerbasi (Dec 7, 2008) Photo © German Villasenor Send this page to friend Give us your feedback Size didn’t matter at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Saturday night, but speed certainly did, as pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao – who won his first world title at 112 pounds – made his welterweight debut in spectacular fashion, dominating Oscar De La Hoya like no other fighter has before the bout was stopped after the eighth round of a one-sided fight. “I think I did well tonight,” said Pacquiao in the understatement of the year. “In the gym we knew speed would be the key to this fight and I used it tonight.” “Manny Pacquiao is a great fighter, he deserves all the credit in the world,” said a gracious De La Hoya. “He fought a tremendous fight and he was the better man.” With the crowd chanting his name, Pacquiao met De La Hoya in the middle of the ring to start of the bout. ‘The Golden Boy’s four-inch height advantage was evident, but so was Pacquiao’s speed as he reddened his foe’s face. De La Hoya calmly stalked, opening up whenever he could corner Pacquiao, but it was the Pac-Man who had the last word as he landed a flush left to the face before the bell. Pacquiao drilled De La Hoya with a hard right early in the second, drawing a roar, and his bobbing and weaving helped him elude return fire. Midway through the round, De La Hoya did land some body shots that were answered in turn by a thudding crack to the midsection by Pacquiao. By the end of the round, De La Hoya looked befuddled by the speedy dervish in front of him. De La Hoya landed the best punch of the first half of round three, a hard body shot while he had Pacquiao against the ropes, but the Philippine banger responded well in the second half of the frame as De La Hoya continued to stalk. Pacquiao continued to strafe De La Hoya with his straight left hand in round four, and by the midway point of the stanza, he was adding combinations and body shots to his arsenal, and the bigger fighter simply had no answer to turn around what was becoming a progressively one-sided fight. After a slow opening minute to the fifth, Pacquiao woke De La Hoya up with a huge right hand, and The Golden Boy started backing up under the increasing assault. In the final minute, De La Hoya leaned into a haymaker to the body and followed up with a series of left hooks that were only able to land because he was holding his opponent’s head with his right hand, but Pacquiao was unmoved by the assault as he fired off combinations to end the round. The pace dipped for the first minute of the sixth, with the second minute heating up thanks to some good exchanges of body shots. It was another Pacquiao round though as his accuracy continued to be an issue for De La Hoya. There was no change to the pattern in the seventh, and Pacquiao stepped on the gas, pounding De La Hoya against the ropes and in the corner for almost the entire round, and a stoppage looked imminent as the east LA’s native left eye almost swelled shut as he got drilled with a barrage of power shots. “I hit him with a lot of hard punches in the last two rounds and I didn’t think he was going to last the 12 rounds,” said Pacquiao, now 48-3-2 with 36 KOs. “But I didn’t want to get too confident.” After a visit from the ringside physician, De La Hoya was allowed out for the eighth round and he gamely tried to get back into the fight, but the 29-year old Pacquiao continued his relentless attack, almost dropping his foe in the corner at the end of the round. That was more than enough for De La Hoya’s trainer, Nacho Beristain, who halted the bout and signaled a passing of the guard among the boxing hierarchy. The Golden Boy admits that he will have to think about retirement. “I’m not shocked (at the result) because at this stage, when you face a great fighter like Manny, it’s almost expected,” said De La Hoya, now 39-6 with 30 KOs. “I worked hard and trained hard, but in the gym it’s a whole different story. My heart still wants to fight, but when you don’t respond physically, what can you do? I have to be smart and think about my future plans.” As for Pacquiao’s future – which could include a fight with Ricky Hatton in 2009 – it is certainly golden. In undercard action… Rising junior welterweight star ‘Vicious’ Victor Ortiz continued to impress as he defended his NABO title with a dominant second round TKO of Jeffrey Resto. Resto (22-3, 13 KOs) looked out of sorts from the opening bell as he awkwardly tried to get his offense together. The stronger looking Ortiz (23-1-1, 18 KOs) had no such problems, as he sent Resto to the canvas twice in the opening round with laser-like straight lefts. Resto rose quickly both times, and was able to last the round by switching to a conventional stance. But Ortiz caught on to that soon enough, and early in the second he put Resto down once again, and though the New Yorker gamely got up again, referee Russell Mora had seen enough and called the fight off at the 1:19 mark. Sergio Medina wore the name ‘Rocky’ on the waistband of his shorts against WBO junior featherweight boss Juan Manuel Marquez, but he fought more like Adrian as he folded quickly against the Boricua bomber. Lopez pounced early, dropping Medina early and often. After the Argentinean hit the deck three times, referee Joe Cortez had seen enough, halting the bizarre mismatch at 1:38 of the opening frame. With the win, Lopez improves to 24-0 with 22 KOs; Medina falls to 33-2 with 18 KOs. There were no surprises in the pay-per-view opener as up and comer Daniel Jacobs moved to 13-0 (12 KOs) with an easy second round TKO of Victor Lares. The end came at 2:44 of the round, with Jay Nady waving the bout off after Lares (14-4, 3 KOs) rose from the bout’s only knockdown. Now available, Thomas Gerbasi’s latest boxing compilation: Fightin’ to Writin’ – More Ring Ramblings. For more information, CLICK HERE Discuss this Topic - Go to the forums E-Mail Thomas Gerbasi at tgerbasi@mindspring.com or visit www.myspace.com/gerbasi