Oscar De La Hoya Says "Pacquiao Doesn't Hit Hard"
Dmitriy Mikhalchuk
Feb. 22, 2009, 2:55 a.m.
%foto2%Oscar De La Hoya said that he felt so weak and helpless during last December\'s stoppage loss to Manny Pacquiao that during the seventh round he was hoping for the Filipino fighter to land a knockout blow. What\'s even more telling is De La Hoya\'s claim that Pacquiao is not a heavy hitter, at least not at their agreed upon weight of 147-pounds. Much of Pacquiao\'s steam as he rides into the May 2 showdown with Ricky Hatton, is the pounding he gave to De La Hoya. Two fights prior to the De La Hoya win, Pacquiao was barely able to get past Juan Manuel Marquez in a rematch that was held at 130-pounds.
âI felt like my hands were tied behind my back. Thatâs where I thought, âGo ahead (Manny) and land something strong and hard right on the button so you can knock me out and take me out of my misery.â Thatâs how I felt at the moment,â De La Hoya said to The Ring Online.
\"I just didnât care. I didnât care if he was hitting me because I couldnât do anything about it. Luckily he doesnât hit hard. Obviously, if he wouldâve hit hard, he would have knocked me out with no problem.â
De La Hoya told The Ring that he hurt Pacquiao in the very first round, but had no energy to follow up with any additional punches. He says Pacquiao was wide open for some of hsi punches but he couldn\'t pull the trigger.
\"Once the (opening) bell rang, I believe I threw a left hook to his body,\" De La Hoya said. \"He made a noise like it really hurt. After that, he was wide open, he was there for me and I didnât do anything. Right there it started feeling like, \'Wow, this doesnât feel the same. I donât feel like myself.\' And obviously, when he started landing punches at will, something in my mind happened as if I said to myself, \'You know what? Itâs just not going to happen.\' I felt as if he could just land anything and I couldnât do anything about it.\"
