Boston – Massachusetts State Boxing Commission Chairman Daniel Fitzgerald says that the scheduled Oscar De La Hoya – Manny Pacquiao welterweight fight for December 6th is a dangerous mismatch that should not happen. He plans on sending a letter to the Association of Boxing Commissions expressing his concerns.
“There’s a matchmaking committee with the ABC and I’m the chairman of that and in that capacity, I did want to voice my concerns to the ABC itself” Said Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald feels that the size difference between De la Hoya and Pacquiao could potentially be dangerous. Pacquiao began his career fighting at 106 pounds and has fight as heavy as 135 pounds, the lightweight limit, were he won a lightweight title in his last bout with a 10th round knockout of David Diaz. De La Hoya began his career as a lightweight, has fought as low as 130 pounds, and as high as 160 pounds, the middleweight limit.
“From a purely objective standpoint, I wouldn’t even want to see the fight except for pure curiosity much like you drive by an accident scene, you’d want to know what had happened. But if you sat me in the front row I would cringe at every jab and every punch that De La Hoya would throw because it’s going to hurt more than any punch that Pacquiao’s ever been hit with.”
Many members of the boxing community have been divided in their opinions of the fight. HBO’s Larry Merchant is credited with initially thinking of the fight, ESPN’s Teddy Atlas has picked Pacquiao to pull the upset and defeat De La Hoya, while many such as The Ring Magazine’s Bill Dettloff think the fight is more of a spectacle than a boxing match.
“The people that love the sport just want to see any big names that they can see fight and I think are just looking past the mismatch just to see two big names go at it and see the spectacle of a big fight. But, the bottom line’s going to be in my opinion, that Manny Pacquiao is going to get seriously hurt unless De La Hoya goes easy on him which you’re not supposed to do but once I think De La Hoya feels him out in the first round or two, this won’t go past four of five rounds and Pacquiao, given the warrior that he is, is going to take a vicious beating.”
The fight is scheduled to take place December 6th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV and is expected to gross hundreds of millions of dollars from ticket sales and pay-per-view purchases. To hear more or Daniel Fitzgerald’s thoughts on the De La Hoya – Pacquiao match-up, listen to his interview in the podcast section of www.boxingherald.com.
