Poche Pictures
e-mail: rich@pochepictures.com
Available on DVD
BIRTH OF A BOXING FAN
-My own story of how this obsession came about.

ERIC 'THE PRINCE' MARTIN
1958-2007
-My tribute to my friend and former Bay Area
boxing great
Available on DVD
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A couple of weeks ago I had a hunch that Pacquiao could pull the upset. He is the exact same size as
Pernell Whitaker who gave a prime Oscar De La Hoya fits…But, after reading one expert after
another write that Oscar’s size would be too much I started to doubt myself (my prediction still stood
but only if you put a gun to my head.)

So much for the experts. In fact, I think it best to avoid “experts” altogether when it comes to sports
or especially the finance industry.

But I digress. This was a beat down. No one outside of Freddie Roach predicted such a one sided
beat down but that is a trainer talking.

Delahoya looked like he had no game plan.  I felt sorry for him when they stopped the bout. You can
tell by his body language that he really didn’t want to continue. Luckily, Nacho Beristain saw the
writing on the wall and stopped the bout himself. Oscar never had to utter the words “Enough.” But
you could see it on his face.

I was surprised that Pacquiao didn’t break down in tears like he usually does after big wins. He now
seems to have a bit of a swagger to him. Victory is expected now. And damn, did he kick some ass.

I had the fight scored a shut out. By the end of the first round, the difference in speed was apparent.
By the end of the third, Pacquiao stated he “knew he was going to win.” By the fifth, the fight looked
over to me. In the seventh, Oscar was trapped in a corner and Larry Merchant stated “Oscar may be
setting a trap.”

No way.

It was a concession. The fight was over and Oscar had no answers. He slowly backpedaled into the
ropes and didn’t have a clue as to how to counter the Pac Man. A stoppage was imminent.

So in hindsight, a true expert should have seen this coming. Delahoya was insecure and had
assembled an all star team of trainers to help him out with this bout. He hired Nacho Beristain and
even trotted out an 87 year old Angelo Dundee to be a consultant. It has been Oscar’s history to go
through trainers like other folks go through their underwear. Delahoya has gone through Robert
Alcazar, Jesus Rivero, Emanuel Steward, Gil Clancy, Floyd Mayweather Sr., Freddie Roach and now
Nacho Beristain. Freddie Roach revealed in HBO’s “24/7” that “Oscar isn’t the most confident guy.”
In hindsight, perhaps hiring Beristain and covering his tracks with Angelo Dundee revealed the doubts
that Delahoya had about this match-up. In some ways, Oscar never really developed a recognizable
fighting style (left jab, left hook...pose...then repeat process). Yes, he lost to a younger man but…He
looked clueless in there. He was a fighter with no identity and was outsmarted by his former trainer
Roach and Pacquiao.

I could have won some coins on Pacquiao if only I listened to my gut! Time to subscribe to Ricky
Roma’s philosophy in “Glengarry Glen Ross”. As Al Pacino so eloquently stated, “I subscribe to the
law of contrary public opinion... If everyone thinks one thing, then I say, bet the other way…”
"This is going
to be fun!" -
Manny Pacquiao
A visual illusion; Pacquiao
actually looks like the bigger
man in this pic. And by this
point in the fight, he was.