Global boxing experts acclaim Pacquiao feat as ‘masterful’

MANILA, Philippines - If Manny Pacquiao and Lea Salonga are the only two Filipinos who can legitimately be called global icons, then Pacquiao's performance on Sunday is his version of Miss Saigon. Boxing critics just couldn't stop praising it. "Is there any doubt that Pacquiao, the Filipino whirlwind, is the best pound-for-pound fighter? Certainly not after that performance," boxing writer Dan Rafael of top US-based sports website ESPN.com said. "Pacquiao entrenched himself as fighter of the year with this showing," Lance Pugmire of Los Angeles Times added. Boxing purists, the ones who hate glossed-over matches which only aim to run up the cash register, crucified the match between the five-foot-six Pacquiao and the five-foot-10 Oscar de la Hoya. They branded it a mismatch, "a circus", and "a farce" and that de la Hoya would run over Pacquiao. In an informal poll on Mannypacquiao.ph, 17 of 21 news and sports web sites picked de la Hoya, a 10-time champion and an Olympic gold medalist, to win. Rafael, who predicted de la Hoya would stop Pacquiao in seven rounds, was one of the handful who ate their words in the aftermath of Pacquiao's destruction of The Golden Boy. "Pacquiao was a master, strafing de la Hoya with brutal straight lefts all night. His speed was impressive," Rafael said. "The critics of the welterweight fight ... called it a joke. They said Pacquiao, who had only fought one bout at 135 pounds earlier this year, was way too small for De La Hoya. Let's hear from them now." Pugmire, who regularly covers Pacquiao in the LA Times, the US Pacific coast's most prestigious broadsheet, showered Pacquiao with praises. Prior to the bout, he was thinking of a de la Hoya win in the ninth. "By the third round, even those who picked Pacquiao - OK, I didn't - had to have been surprised by the 3-0 sweep," Pugmire said, referring to his scorecard that had Pacquiao in front after three rounds. "Oscar was supposed to be at his strongest early. He clearly wasn't." In Pugmire's round-by-round analysis, he noted that statistics showed Pacquiao connected on 45 power punches. In the seventh round only. "That's the most power punches de la Hoya has ever absorbed in 31 fights recorded," Pugmire added. Ian Mannix, a sportswriter for the CNN/Sports Illustrated web site, hailed Pacquiao's game plan and one of his most fearsome assets - Pacquiao's strengths. "Manny Pacquiao's stick-and-move strategy in the early rounds befuddled de la Hoya. Pacquiao would come in with one or two-punch combinations then deftly sidestep any de la Hoya flurries. As the fight wore on-and as de la Hoya began to fatigue, Pacquaio rained blows on him, fearlessly," Mannix said. "There was no power advantage," he added. "If anything, it was Pacquiao that proved to be the more potent puncher." Tim Dahlberg of the Associated Press wrote in his fight postmortem that he hasn't seen a fighter "(Pacquiao) win so big and another (de la Hoya) lose so much." "Pacquiao likely will go on to even greater things, with big fights and even bigger money still to come. ... De la Hoya will go on to a life as a businessman and forget any thoughts of returning to the ring," Dahlberg wrote. "Indeed, the new pay-per-view star could be Pacquiao, who took advantage of his opportunity to win over a lot of new fans with his impressive win." Bill Dwyre, Pugmire's colleague at LA Times and who was one of a few who predicted Pacquiao to win, was left in awe. "Pacquiao did not just beat de la Hoya. (He) destroyed him. Humiliated him. Sent him into retirement. Pacquiao's victory had ended an era in boxing that spanned more than 10 years and was the personal domain of a great boxer known as the Golden Boy," Dwyre said. "He gets better and better and deserves all that pound-for-pound hype he gets," he added. Even Angelo Dundee, the trainer of boxing icons Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard among others, inferred that Pacquiao was so good he disrupted whatever de la Hoya's game plan was. "De la Hoya gave it all he had. He gave it a hell of a shot. Two great fighters fighting one another. It's too bad one had to lose," Dundee, who was picked up by de la Hoya as a special trainer, said. "Oscar was in great shape. No cop-out. De La Hoya was ready to beat Pacman. He had all the answers and preparation. But the best-laid plans go bye-bye." - GMANews.TV