Manny Pacquiao is Easily Boxing's #1 Pound for Pound Champion

Most fight fans expected Oscar De La Hoya to bring Manny Pacquiao the best fight he's ever had in his boxing career. Many believed that Oscar was going to bully Pacquiao and that this fight wasn't fair from it's signing, but as a witness to this lopsided boxing match, all Pacquiao doubters were proven wrong.

From the beginning bell, Pacquiao's speed, foot work, upper body movement, and head movement, as well as his usual aggressiveness, clobbered De La Hoya like no fighter has ever done before. Pacquiao smothered De La Hoya from the onset. It seemed as though Manny's power surprised Oscar. Throughout De La Hoya's career, whenever he has been cornered, he would throw a flurry that would make his opponent back off and that just did not happen in this fight. Oscar's flurries had absolutely no effect on Pacquiao. Even worse, Pacquiao seemed to get the better of their exchanges. Toward the end of the fight, Pacquiao backed Oscar up against the ropes and in the corner, in a fashion that would usually cause the referee to step in and stop the fight. For that reason, Oscar's corner decided to throw in the towel before the beginning of the 9th round, putting a stamp on the fact that Pacquiao is boxing's elite fighter and absolutely the "pound for pound" best fighter in the world right now.

Oscar De La Hoya may want to strongly consider retirement after this one. The truth is that he looked very slow, and for the first time in his career, scared. Not even his knock-out loss to Bernard Hopkins looked as bad as this one. Reflecting on Oscar's recent career, he just hasn't won any of his big fights. So it's amazing that he still draws bigger crowds than all other fighters in the sport. Maybe this fight will change that, and Pacquiao could well be boxing's new premiere fighter.

Manny Pacquiao definitely deserves to take Oscar's popularity because all of his recent fights have been somewhat dramatic, but he has won them all. The beating he put on De La Hoya will not only cause him to be more respected among fighters and fight fans, but it will cause him to be more feared. His fight style is not only unorthodox, it's unpredictable. The one sure thing when it comes to Manny Pacquiao's fight style is that he is going to be aggressive and try to out work his opponent, and looking at the punch stats for this fight, he did much more than that. Congratulations to Manny Pacquiao for his victory, and thank you's from the fight fans for such an astonishing performance.

Now that we know that Manny can compete in the 147-pound weight class, where boxing seems to be the most competitive nowadays, his next opponent should be someone more well known in the boxing world. Maybe he can get Mr. Money Mayweather to come out of retirement, which would definitely be a clash of unique fighting styles. I don't expect him to take on an Antonio Margarito or a Miguel Cotto, but those are only two names in a weight class full of contenders.