Tuesday, November 27, 2007 Quijano: A light weight division By Jingo Quijano Last Round
BOXING is a sport that thrives on speculation and intrigue. You see it when you visit internet chat rooms, forums and other testosterone pits. Everybody has his own opinion and well, rightfully they should. Fans have every right to pontificate all they want about dream match-ups and fascinating scenarios. It’s healthy for the sport.
But when such malarkey is being peddled by a major player of the industry, it becomes downright annoying. I’m talking about the proposed Oscar dela Hoya-Manny Pacquiao match.
What was Bob Arum on when he insisted that it was doable because Manny comes in at fight time weighing around 144 pounds?
What he conveniently forgot to mention was that dela Hoya probably also comes in for his junior middleweight fights at 160 pounds or more.
Watching big, strong Fernando Vargas in a mortal struggle with Nicaraguan mauler Ricardo Mayorga and fail to drop him even once, evoked memories of a single left hook that Oscar used to drop Mayorga in the very first round.
I shudder at the thought of that very same punch landing on Manny, especially when you also take into consideration how a momentarily careless Manny was stunned by Oscar Larios—a former super bantamweight champion—with a single punch in the third round.
Don’t get me wrong, I know it’s been done before. Boxers move through weight classes in search of better opposition and greater glory. Roy Jones gained more than 20 pounds to challenge John Ruiz for the WBA heavyweight title and won.
But dela Hoya is no John Ruiz, and well, as much as we love Manny, he is no Roy Jones Jr. either.
“When people ask me about it I just tell them that when it’s realistic we’ll talk about it. The size difference between the two guys is too much,” Freddie Roach told Boxingconfidential.com
Now that’s the most sensible thing I’ve heard all week.
LOVE-HATE AFFAIR. Despite the much-publicized settlement on the Manny’s promotional contract dispute, we all know there’s no love lost between dela Hoya and Arum. If you ask me, aside from the obvious financial considerations for the fight--with Oscar being the biggest draw in boxing today--Bob Arum also probably wanted to bust Oscar’s chops and irritate him.
PROPER TIMING. A more realistic goal for now is an invasion to the lightweight division and Manny himself has always stated that this is one of his career goals.
If so, the time is now.
This division is at its weakest in years. Time was when this division was inhabited by heavy hitters such as the late Diego Coralles and Jose Luis Castillo. But Diego has moved on to a higher plane and Castillo to a higher weight division.
Joel Casamayor? He looked woefully old and ordinary and hardly deserved the decision against Jose Armando Sta. Cruz.
As things stand now, Juan Diaz and David Diaz are the resident powerhouses in this division and Manny has a good chance of beating both of them and taking their alphabet belts if that’s what he is after.
Juan Manuel Marquez? He has stated that he is willing to fight Manny at lightweight and so he will get his day of reckoning at this division.
Win a belt, conquer a higher weight division, and beat Marquez. Forgive the cliché, but in this manner, Manny can hit three birds with one stone.
SECOND OVERTIME. The lord of the metaphors Homer Sayson correctly, predicted Ricardo Mayorga to beat Fernando Vargas. Good call Homer. Just don’t stay out too long and do a Vargas on us.
LAST ROUND. It’s on my companeros who emerged victorious during the 3rd Medico-Legal Charity Golf Tournament held last Nov. 16 and 17 at the Alta Vista Golf and Country Club. The top 15 lawyers scored an aggregate 1 under par beating the top 15 doctors who scored an aggregate 12 over par at the par 72 golf course. The charity golf tournament raised a total of P248,000 for the benefit of the sick children in the Pediatric Surgical Ward of Vicente Sotto Hospital.
