Pacquiao, De la Hoya winning odds near even

MANILA, Philippines - The Dream Match has been called a mismatch, a circus, and a no-contest. Betting lines on Friday (Thursday, US time) in Las Vegas clearly showed otherwise. Oscar de la Hoya's winning odds continued to slip after The Golden Boy was listed as a mere minus-165 favorite to beat Manny Pacquiao with two days to go before their highly anticipated showdown. With that line, that means a bet of $1.65 on de la Hoya will net $1.00. Pacquiao was listed reportedly as a plus-135 underdog ($1.00 to win $1.35) on the same day. In simple terms, de la Hoya and Pacquiao have nearly the same winning odds. Some personalities - including World Boxing Council president Jose Sulaiman, former world champion Roger Mayweather, among others - have branded the bout one that the naturally bigger de la Hoya will win lopsidedly. But as the fight draws near, the so-called "circus" is starting to look a little more serious. Just last Monday, de la Hoya was at minus-185 ($1.85 to win $1.00) and Pacquiao at plus-155 ($1.00 to win $1.55). While Pacquiao's lines have been steady, there has been a noticeable drop on de la Hoya's winning odds since the Dream Match was formally announced in early September. In mid-September, bookmakers installed de la Hoya as a minus-240 favorite ($2.40 to win $1.00). In late October, the line went down to minus-204 ($2.04 to win $1.00). In the same periods, Pacquiao was at plus-190 ($1.00 to win $1.90) in mid-September and between plus-155 and plus-185 in late October. Before the Pacquiao-de la Hoya tiff was formalized, Las Vegas oddsmakers put Pacquiao's value at plus-165 ($1.00 to win $1.65) and de la Hoya at minus-185. Based on the trend, the welterweight bout between Pacquiao, who is going up in weight for a second consecutive match, and the naturally bigger de la Hoya appears to be a lot more even that some of the recent major boxing cards. According to the Las Vegas Sun, Juan Manuel Marquez was a 3-1 favorite versus Joel Casamayor, Ricky Hatton a 5-2 favorite versus Paulie Malignaggi, Kelly Pavlik a 4-1 favorite against Bernard Hopkins and Shane Mosley a staggering 8-1 favorite against Ricardo Mayorga. Among the four bouts, only Hopkins came away with a win as an underdog. - GMANews.TV