Round-by-round coverage of pound-for-pound kingpin Manny Pacquiao’s welterweight victory over Oscar De La Hoya. Pacquiao won via TKO when De La Hoya couldn’t answer the bell for the ninth round.
ROUND 1
De La Hoya closed as a 2-1 favorite. De La Hoya is minus-200 and Pacquiao is plus-170. The over-under is 9½ rounds. Pacquiao comes out with a slight weight advantage tonight. On the unofficial HBO scales, he weighed 148½ and De La Hoya was 147. De La Hoya is the aggressor early, but nothing lands in the first minute. Straight left from Pacquiao and then a combination from Pacquiao connects. Lead left by Pacquiao. Right to the body by Oscar. Manny misses a big hook. Straight left by Pacquiao. Combination to the head by De La Hoya backs Pacquiao up. Right by Oscar connects. Straight left by Manny.
Iole scores it 10-9, Pacquiao
ROUND 2
Lead right by De La Hoya and a right hook from Pacquiao. Double jab by De La Hoya. Pacquiao is circling away. Combination from Oscar but doesn’t land flush. Combination to the body by De La Hoya. Right-left from Pacquiao. De La Hoya’s face is reddened from the punches. Pacquiao left lands and then an uppercut. Lead left by Pacquiao keeps getting through. Difference in hand speed is stark. Hard jab and then a left by Pacquiao. Lead left by Pacquiao.
Iole scores it 10-9, Pacquiao.
ROUND 3
Lead left from Pacquiao to open the round connects. De La Hoya has to stop that. De La Hoya is doing nothing offensively in first minute of round. Pacquiao flicks a jab that is short. Right to the head and left to the body from De La Hoya. Lead left again by Pacquiao. Left to the body from Pacquiao. Oscar seems befuddled. Right hook to the body from Pacquiao.
Iole scores it 10-9, Pacquiao
ROUND 5
De La Hoya connects with a jab, but first 30 seconds of round are very slow. They’re circling but not throwing much. Pacquiao lands a right hook. Triple jab from Pacquiao. Combination from Pacquiao backs De La Hoya up. The way this is going, it wouldn’t be a shock if De La Hoya were to quit on the stool at some point. He’s taking a tremendous amount of punishment. Body shot by Oscar lands and then two lefts. Oscar’s left eye is closing. He looks like a beaten, old and shot fighter.
Iole scores it 10-9, Pacquiao
ROUND 6
Nothing happens in first minute of round. Pacquiao lands left to body and a left to the cheek. They trade in the corner and Pacquiao gets the best of it. Straight left from Pacquiao lands. Hard straight left by Pacquiao snaps Oscar’s head back. De La Hoya’s left eye is a mess. Right by Pacquiao lands on that eye. This may be stopped soon by the corner.
Iole scores it 10-9, Pacquiao
ROUND 7
Lead right by De La Hoya lands to open the round. Pacquiao rakes De La Hoya with a three-punch combination. Double jab by Manny. Pacquiao batters De La Hoya into the corner. He’s pinned on the ropes and Pacquiao is firing away. Fight is close to ending. Pacquiao is hitting De La Hoya hard with everything he throws. Oscar is in big, big trouble. Left to the body by Pacquiao hurts Oscar. Oscar has never been beaten like this in any of his 44 previous fights. Pacquiao is overwhelming him.
Iole scores it 10-8, Pacquiao
ROUND 8
Pacquiao goes to the body and is warned by referee Tony Weeks to keep them up. Lead right by Oscar connects. Combination by Pacquiao pins Oscar in the corner. Lead left by Pacquiao buzzes De La Hoya. Combination wobbles him in the corner. Double jab by Pacquiao. Combination by Pacquiao lands. De La Hoya goes to the body. Four-punch combination by Pacquiao lands and hurts Oscar.
Iole scores it 10-9, Pacquiao
ROUND 9
Fight is stopped just as the round is set to begin. Manny Pacquiao is the winner. Official time is 3:00 of the eighth.
Pacquiao makes De La Hoya quit after eight
Seth Petruzelli (11-4) def. Kimbo Slice (3-1)
Ref stoppage in 14 seconds
Turning point: Petruzelli dropped Slice immediately with a jab and pummeled him with punch after punch until ref Todd Waugh stopped it.
Analysis: The ramifications here are numerous. Even if the television rating is big, the goose that laid the golden egg was exposed by a fighter who previously was known only to the most hardcore fans. In the long run, that is devastating to the company and for MMA on CBS. The future is very much up in the air.
David Blaine Vs. Kimbo Slice
Final curtain for the Kimbo show
SUNRISE, Fla. – The legend of Kimbo Slice was built by beating bums in boat yards and back alleys not far from here. It came crashing down Saturday courtesy of a quick punch from a pink-haired journeyman giving up two inches in height, four in reach and 30 pounds in muscle and might.
One simple shot sent Slice to the canvas and from there some guy named Seth Petruzelli needed just 12 punches and 14 seconds to put an end (we hope) to one of the great sporting charades of all time.
It was just a matter of time before Kimbo got exposed. He was little more than a character out of central casting, a bunch of addictive YouTube videos and a lot of insane hype by CBS, which made him a headliner before he made himself a fighter.
More On Kimbo Slice
Ruiz Replaces Southworth In Babalu Fight
SAN JOSE, Calif. —A potentially torn ACL and meniscus will prevent Strikeforce Light Heavyweight (205 lb. limit) Champion Bobby Southworth from being able to defend his crown against Renato “Babalu” Sobral (30-7) at the world-famous Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, California on Saturday, September 20th. Replacing the ailing Southworth in the fight with Sobral will be Anthony “A-Train” Ruiz (21-11).
The 38-year-old Southworth sustained the knee injury during a routine training session at American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) in San Jose. A physician, who pinpointed the affected areas, has ordered Southworth to undergo an MRI exam to determine the extent of the damage and to go through four to six weeks of physical therapy.
Ruiz, a 30-year-old resident of Modesto, California, is coming off a July 26th unanimous judges’ decision victory over Jeremy Freitag.
Ruiz holds a 1-1 record against Southworth. After their initial meeting, a non-title bout on November 16, 2007, was stopped 52 seconds into the second round due to a cut Ruiz had opened around Southworth’s eye, Ruiz was awarded a win by TKO.
Southworth avenged the loss by legging out a five-round, unanimous judges’ decision over Ruiz at San Jose’s HP Pavilion on June 27th.
“Strikeforce At The Mansion II” will be highlighted by a showdown between 2006 Pride Fighting Championship Grand Prix winner and world top 10 ranked, Kazuo “Grabaka Hitman” Misaki (20-8-2), and 25-year-old former UFC star, Joe “Diesel “Riggs (28-10).
Twenty-four year old thoroughbred Cory “The One” Devela (9-1) will bid for his eighth consecutive victory when he takes on what is arguably his most dangerous challenge to date, heavy-handed Terry Martin (17-5), in a middleweight (185 lb. limit) contest
Newly crowned Strikeforce World Lightweight (155 lb. limit) Champion Josh “The Punk” Thomson (16-2) will also return to action in a three-round, non-title matchup with Lion’s Den prodigy Ashe Bowman (10-4).
In addition to a full night of MMA action, all “Strikeforce At The Mansion II” guests will be entitled to a top-shelf, open bar; buffet-style, gourmet dinner; and wine-tasting party featuring the spirits of various California gold medal wineries.
Strikeforce wrote a new chapter in sports history when it produced the first-ever MMA event at the Playboy Mansion last September. Amongst the host of celebrities who attended the affair were Playboy Enterprises Founder, Hugh Hefner and “The Girls Next Door;” comedians Gary Shandling and Joe Rogan; actress and model Jaime Pressly; actors Michael Duncan Clarke, Christina Fulton, Ethan Suplee, Ernie Hudson, and Page Kennedy; MMA legends Royce Gracie and Bas Rutten; and superstars Cung Le, Frank Shamrock, Josh Barnett, and Andrei Arlovski.
All inquiries regarding tickets for “Strikeforce At The Mansion II” should be directed to Dan Guiterrez at Strikeforce’s corporate headquarters (Ph # 408-998-8232.)
About Strikeforce:
Strikeforce is a world-class mixed Martial Arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state history. The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265. Since 1995, Strikeforce has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.” Since then, it has co-produced the first SHOWTIME PPV mixed martial arts event in history with its world championship “Shamrock vs. Baroni” card on June 22nd of this year followed by the first-ever mixed martial arts event at the world-famous Playboy Mansion on September 29th.
