Four memorable fights between 'the new kid in town' vs 'the resident sheriff'

I AM coming up with this list to start off my regular section on this microsite simply because I've always wondered what Manny Pacquiao's chances are beating Oscar de la Hoya. This is a list that's "only" at the top of my head and I suppose it's relevant enough for the contemporary boxing fan to relate to as the following fights occurred over the last five or six years. As I wrote this, it surprised me to find out that it's rare to see an ambitious kid coming into a new town kicking out the resident sheriff. The guy coming in throwing his (literally new) weight around hasn't had such a high success rate compared to the guy "who's been, done that". In other words, Pacquiao may be in for something that's out of his league when he takes on de la Hoya (naturally 12lbs heavier than our Pac-man). Or if you read the glass as half-full rather than half-empty – a look that I share with most Filipinos, I presume – Pacquiao may be in for something special. 1 – Oscar de la Hoya vs. Bernard Hopkins (2004) The Golden Boy didn't popularize the term pound-for-pound, but no boxer was more comfortable with the term than de la Hoya. Like Pacquiao, de la Hoya started small in relation to his current "comfortable" weight class. He started as a 130lb champion and would go on to win five more world titles. He seemed unstoppable when he attempted at a seventh world title in the middleweight class. But Bernard Hopkins gave de la Hoya an embarrassing reality check. At the time, the money fight for de la Hoya was taking on Hopkins. B-Hop was gunning for history with an unprecedented 20th defense of the 160lb crown. De la Hoya, wanting to push the envelope further, sought Hopkins' scalp, as the Golden Boy sought to engrave unanimously his own name among the sport's greatest (if he hadn't already). But de la Hoya's ambition to scale another peak came crashing in the ninth round when Hopkins gave him one punch to his liver, won via TKO and hand de la Hoya his first knockout loss. What Pacquiao can look for in the fight: De la Hoya is one of the most skillful fighters the world has ever seen; it's almost easy to say he never had a weakness during his prime. But he was against a naturally bigger, naturally stronger fighter in a natural middleweight boxer in Hopkins. De la Hoya, if I remember correctly, thought the age difference of eight years between him and Hopkins was going to be a factor. But Hopkins, who was turning 40 at the time, never seemed fazed by his 32-year-old challanger. But what de la Hoya didn't have versus Hopkins in 2004 that Pacquiao could use this time as an advantage against de la Hoya is the speed factor. 2 - Felix Trinidad vs. Bernard Hopkins (2001) Felix Trinidad won his first world title at 147lbs and held on to it for six years. After that, he copped the 154lb crown in his first light-middleweight challenge then defended it twice successfully. Trinidad won a portion of the 160lb world championship in 2001 but in a unification fight four months later was felled by longtime champion Bernard Hopkins. Skill-wise, Trinidad had the offense but he was going up against one of the best defensive boxers maybe of all time in Hopkins. He's a guy who makes his opponents look awkward. In this fight, the defensive guy clearly won out. You might be thinking, why does Hopkins appear in the first two items on my list? It's simple. If fighters like de la Hoya or Trinidad have this urge to collect different world titles, Hopkins is the opposite. He wants to establish his greatness in a specific weight class. And if you talk of pure boxing, Hopkins is one of the few fighters who gets the job done regardless of whether it's a style that isn't palatable to TV networks or fans. He's a brick wall to all these challengers moving up in weight because in a sense, they're all offensive-minded – de la Hoya, Trinidad then lately Kelly Pavlik. (Just ask yourself; he isn't called "The Executioner" for nothing.) Hopkins' defensive skills have posed as the perfect counterfoil to the guys previously mentioned. Even if he hasn't gotten any love from a TV standpoint, nobody can deny Hopkins' place as one of the greatest world champions ever. What Pacquiao can look for in the fight: Pacquiao can find comfort in the fact that de la Hoya is no Hopkins. What I mean is, what Oscar and Trinidad found against Hopkins was they were battling the man considered the best of his weight division may be in history. The same can't be said of de la Hoya. Yes, he won a world title at 147lbs but he never established his grip on the welterweight territory because besides losing twice on the world-championship stage - yes, you got it - he moved up to light middleweight. 3 - Ricky Hatton vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. (2007) Ricky Hatton wasn't what you called a "weight class" journeyman, like de la Hoya or Trinidad. But I put him on this list because he's an example of another type of boxer: someone who remained at one particular division (light welterweight) for a long period of time before he changed his mind and turned his attention to a heavier weight class. Hatton's foray from 140lbs to 147 was hyped because, besides the shift in weight, he was going up against the equally undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. Mayweather was no established 147lb fighter at the time either. In fact, Junior was the consummate pound-for-pound fighter, somebody who started as a super-featherweight then moved up and conquered one division after another until he reached the welterweight class in 2006. Seven months later in 2007, Mayweather tried his hand in the 154lb territory. The result? He defeated Oscar de la Hoya via split decision. That being said, Mayweather went back down to 147 against Hatton when they fought later that year. The outcome? A jarring 10th-round TKO victory by Mayweather. What Pacquiao can look for in the fight: This is basically more about the comparisons in style than in size. You have natural brawlers (Hatton, Pacquiao) going up against natural technical boxers (Mayweather, de la Hoya). I remember Hatton was keeping in step in almost the entire first half of the fight. In some ways, the gung-ho Hatton was hitting Mayweather and outhustling him. But Mayweather, using a combination of technique and then endurance (honed by his side trip to 154lb), kept him a step or two ahead of Hatton. Again there's that one, well-timed punch coming from the more technically sound, relatively heavier fighter doing in the devil-may-care foe. 4 - Manny Pacquiao vs Marco Antonio Barrera (2003) It's hard to find a match where first, there's a huge disparity in natural weight and second, the guy going up in weight is the underdog. De la Hoya (vs Hopkins), Trinidad and even Hatton were, at the very least, considered to have had an equal shot at winning against their opponents because the three had been winning: de la Hoya and Trinidad were nearly unstoppable as they got heavier, while Hatton was undefeated in 43 matches. But if Pac-man fans are looking for that rare fight to look back to and make them feel good about Pacquiao's chances against Oscar, it has to be one match that featured Pacquiao himself: his first meeting with Marco Antonio Barrera. Pacquiao was going from 122lbs up to 126, relatively smaller than the 12lbs he needs to pack himself in for de la Hoya. But it must be remembered that compared to a declining de la Hoya, Barrera in 2003 was still at the peak of his game. He had just signed a contract with Golden Boy Promotions, a development that pointed to the fact that it had put its complete trust on Barrera to win and win big. Pacquiao was Barrera's first assignment as part of the GBP family. He failed in spectacular fashion in an 11th round TKO. What Pacquiao can look for in the fight: De la Hoya plays much like Barrera in that they want to fight brawlers, but not because they want to get it on toe to toe. They want to fight the Pacquiao type because they know they can beat them with wits, with smarts. They're going to beat them not by blowing them away, but by deliberately dissecting them. By any indication, Pacquiao could be more than just the punching machine he used to be known for. If he fights what Freddie Roach calls "the perfect fight" like the one he orchestrated against David Diaz in June - a blend of power, speed, patience and defense - the de la Hoya bout will be winnable. If Pacquiao comes in active and smart, de la Hoya's advantages in size and smarts will be nullified. Just like what happened to Barrera five years ago. If he can pull off a win against de la Hoya, Pacquiao can claim to be a rare small fighter in the history of boxing who has built a reputation for beating foes bigger than him. Do we hear Pacquiao singing I shot the sheriff?