Ringside

I think it’s time to introduce a new topic to the BD Sports Blog. Manny Pacquiao dominated his fight against Oscar De La Hoya at the MGM Grand on Saturday. De La Hoya gave his best Roberto Duran impression after the eighth round and threw in the towel, having absorbed so many blows that his left eye had nearly swollen shut. He wanted no more. He could fight no more. Pacquiao threw almost two hundred more punches and landed almost three times as many punches as De La Hoya before the TKO. It was like the first time you got to Mr. Sandman in Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!: maybe you were able to gut through a few rounds, but the inevitable uppercut knockout was coming.

Pacquiao was giving up six years of age, four inches of height, and five inches of reach; he jumped up two weight classes to fight The Golden Boy in the 147-pound welterweight division. Aside from his popularity in his native Philippines (there wasn't a crime reported in Manila during the fight), Pacman's star power was dwarfed by that which accompanies De La Hoya – arguably the greatest fighter of the past two decades. The rumored payout from this bout was to be between 70/30 and 60/40 to De La Hoya. The casinos and bookies worldwide had De La Hoya as the clear favorite.

All this being considered, this fight looks like a true upset. Pacquiao solidified himself as the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter (though that title has probably been bestowed upon five boxers in the past six years). This annihilation may just be the end for the Golden Boy. He now has just six career losses, with four of those coming in his last ten fights.

But De La Hoya is a boxer – and a very marketable name. I’m sure he’ll officially retire soon, then officially unretire like most champion boxers, and in a couple of years we’ll see him in a bout like the one that Evander Holyfield has scheduled on December 20th against Nikolai Valuev. Nicknamed "The Russian Giant," Valuev is seven feet tall, weighs over 320 pounds, and has a reach that could get closer to a first down than the Detroit Lions. He's probably best described as a mix between Andre the Giant, Ivan Drago (just because he's a huge Russian), French rugby player Sebastien Chabal, and 007 nemesis Jaws.

Along with Chris Kaman, Valuev may disprove Darwin's theory of evolution; but he does give ample credence to his theory of natural selection and survival of the fittest. Valuev also pulls off the Cold Soviet Stare almost as well as Vladimir Putin. And would someone please wax this guy's back? Seriously.

Good luck, Evander.