Yahoo's Kevin Iole touched on the expected PPV numbers for the Oscar de la Hoya-Manny Pacquiao fight in his latest mailbag:

Indications are that the pay-per-view result will be around 1.5 million buys, which is a phenomenal number. It’s a tribute not only to De La Hoya’s ability to sell, but it points out the widespread popularity that Pacquiao has obtained. This guy isn’t popular just among his countrymen in the Philippines.

Some people were talking two million last week, but I said on MMA Nation with Luke Thomas on Saturday evening before the fight I expected 1.3-1.5 million, and that's looking likely.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Oscar's fight with Floyd Mayweather did 2.4 million; this number is a great, great success. For one thing, Pacquiao came into this known, you have to remember, mostly to just diehard boxing fans. Mayweather, an American, was certainly more widely known in the States. It was also a far better economy in May 2007.

Source: El Nuevo Dia (BoxingScene.com has the topic in English here)

Argentinian fighter Sergio Medina has made the claim that he received a death threat if he didn't go down in the first round against WBO junior featherweight titlist Juan Manuel Lopez in one of the featured undercard bouts last Saturday in Las Vegas.

Medina, who was harshly criticized by the HBO broadcast team and just about every fan that watched the event, including myself, gave his side of the story to El Nuevo Dia.

"During the weigh-in they [people associated with Lopez] told me if I didn't throw the fight in the first round, I wouldn't leave the United States alive. What hurts me more is that I was prepared for 12 rounds, but I had to throw the fight because I was very afraid. I was nervous before the fight, and didn't want to fight. It's known that there was a certain amount of money being paid out if Juanma stopped me in the first round. I swear on my daughters that what I'm saying is completely true. They threatened me, so I threw the fight."

Medina's claims are serious business, and are neither easy for him to back up or easy for the Lopez camp to prove to be false. It's one guy's word against the word of others, unless Medina has people that can back him up with this stuff, which wouldn't seem too likely.

With all the businessmen and hobknobbers around the weigh-in stage, you'd think someone would have overheard something. Someone important enough to do something about it. Or at least that's what I would think, but that's just me thinking.

Medina claiming he threw the fight leaves this matter open to serious investigation by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and if he cannot get it proven that he was threatened, it's unlikely he's ever going to fight on American soil again.

Here are the facts about the fight as we know them:

1. Medina gained 16 pounds overnight, shooting up to 138. That's never a good sign.

2. Lopez landed nine of his 37 shots, and with those nine punches put Medina on the canvas three times. None of them were particularly hard-looking blows, but then again none of us are the ones being punched by Lopez, either.

3. Medina genuinely did not look interested in being in the ring. This is observation far more than fact, but I wrote it off as conditioning. I thought he just wasn't in good shape at all, wasn't feeling well, and didn't come to fight.

It's a tough, tough story to talk about because there are two very extreme outcomes here. Either Medina just dusted his entire career outside of Argentina -- which is far more likely if only because it's going to be hard to PROVE anything -- or the Lopez camp is in some real hot water.

I'm not one for conspiracy theories or the fixing of the sport being a genuine problem that is hurting the sport, but this isn't something to just brush off either. It's a criminal claim he's making. It's no joke.

I'm sure more will develop.

(Photo is © German Villasenor for DoghouseBoxing.com)

The race is over. If any Fighter of the Year award for 2008 goes to any fighter besides Manny Pacquiao, it's bogus. Let's recap Pacquiao's incredible 2008:

• March 15: Pacquiao beats Juan Manuel Marquez in a thrilling rematch via split decision, capturing the vacant Ring Magazine crown as junior lightweight world champion. I scored it razor-thin for Marquez, but it was a toss-up fight and a Fight of the Year candidate. The fight did phenomenal PPV numbers, coming in with around 400,000 buys, an astonishing mark for a card headlined by 130-pound boxers.
• June 28: Pacquiao moves up to 135 pounds for the first time, dismantling David Diaz and knocking him out in the ninth round. Pacquiao uses the extra five pounds well, looking stronger and even faster than ever. The world agrees David Diaz is no world-class fighter, but also not a pushover. And he was never in the fight.
• December 6: "The Dream Match" arrives, and Pacquiao makes it a nightmare for Oscar de la Hoya. Pacquiao embarrasses and humbles de la Hoya, forcing the Golden Boy to quit after eight rounds of punishment. Moving up to 147 pounds has no effect on his speed whatsoever. He is a fighting machine that has no peer in the sport, pound-for-pound.

There is no question in my mind -- and I mean no question -- that Oscar de la Hoya should retire. That he's finished. That it's over.

Manny Pacquiao is an enormous talent who continues to get better and better, as hard as it is to believe. Last night, he proved that a great little man absolutely can beat a good bigger man. And not just beat him, but annihiliate him. Punish him. Make him quit.

Oscar de la Hoya must face facts. And it appears he is doing so. Having been so utterly manhandled by Pacquiao, HBO analyst Larry Merchant reported to having heard the following exchange just after the fight, as he was attempting to get interviews with the fighters:

Pacquiao: "You're still my idol."

de la Hoya: "No, now you're mine."

ESPN's Dan Rafael reports that Oscar and Freddie Roach embraced after the fight, and Oscar said, "Freddie, you're right. I don't have it anymore."

But a fighter will often change his mind, as we all know. Former Oscar rival Tito Trinidad retired after getting pounded by Bernard Hopkins and fighting once more in Puerto Rico, and he came back. He retired again after being embarrassed by Winky Wright. He came back. He shouldn't have. Roy Jones creamed him this past January. The list, of course, could go on and on.

Think it can't happen to Oscar? Think he's got too much money, too many business ventures, or too much pride or common sense? Ask yourself a few questions: Did you ever think you'd see a beaten shell of the man Evander Holyfield once was fighting a 7-foot giant in a sideshow attraction, which is just a couple weeks from really, truly happening? Did you think Tommy Hearns would be lacing 'em up at 48, as he did a couple years ago? Did you think Sugar Ray Leonard would ever come back from the 1991 beating he took from Terry Norris?

Boxing is a unique sport, and its athletes unique human beings. The competitive drive in baseball can be quelled when enough guys throw enough fastballs past you, or enough of your fastballs are sent onto the nearest interstate. In team sports or even sports like tennis, people stop giving you money to play when you can't do it anymore.

Someone, somewhere, will always pay a guy to fight.

The genuine hope, of course, is that Oscar is too smart, does have too many viable opportunities outside the ring, and won't fight on. Because he was horrible last night. He was like a breathing punching bag for Pacquiao, who ripped him repeatedly from the first round on. Only a couple of times could Oscar find Manny and hit him. Manny turned him, made him look every bit like a 35-year old, part-time fighter, and shut him down completely. Oscar de la Hoya was no match for Manny Pacquiao.

He grew frustrated. And he grew frustrated because he knew he couldn't do anything to stop Pacquiao. In some ways, it had to have frightened Oscar. Pacquiao's speed played tricks with Oscar's mind as much as it did his body. Because Oscar's a good fighter, and has been for a long time. He had to have had the thoughts of what to do right, it's just that they kept coming too late.

How scary must that be? And at what point do you think it fully hit him that there was no way out of this? That he couldn't beat Pacquiao, couldn't touch him. That Pacquiao was giving him the worst beating of his 16-year career, which saw him rise to the top of the sport and two or three times lap everyone at the box office?

In the seventh round, I remarked during the round-by-round that had this been any other fight, I think there is no question the referee would have stopped it, or the fighter's corner would have thrown the towel in. Pacquiao obliterated Oscar in that round. If you watch it back, you'll see Pacquiao get Oscar on the ropes, fire on him, and then step away from him. He did this repeatedly. Oscar had chances to very easily get off the ropes. But he stood there, frozen in time, overwhelmed and terrified. Pacquiao would come back at him and unload some more.

Oscar did not throw punches back. He did nothing but absorb punishment. He was trapped in a bubble of fear -- fear that it was all coming to an end. That he couldn't beat this guy. That it was over, and there was no coming back from this one.

He'd lost before. He lost to Trinidad, to Mosley twice, to Mayweather and to Hopkins. All great fighters, and in all the fights, he was competitive. Only the bigger Hopkins ever stopped him, on a perfect body blow. This wasn't competitive. This was Manny Pacquiao, four inchers shorter than the Golden Boy, beating the living hell out of him for eight rounds. Beating him so badly that Nacho Beristain, training Oscar for the first time, wasn't letting his fighter go back out there and take any more punishment. Had he let Oscar go back, referee Tony Weeks was making it very clear that the end was near unless things changed drastically.

Oscar didn't argue. He let the fight be called, stood up, and offered his congratulations to Pacquiao. He was classy in defeat. He made no excuses (though we often say this before the barrage of excuses comes).

Now it's time for him to stay classy, and to close the door on his boxing career. There is not a single fight I want to see Oscar de la Hoya in at this point, and I think that speaks for the majority of boxing fans. He did a lot of great things for the sport as an active fighter. He has no more left to give us. The well is dry.

It's closing time, Oscar. Thanks for the memories.

One-sided.

Manny Pacquiao: 224/585, 38%
Oscar de la Hoya: 83/402, 21%

Pacquiao landed 59% of his 333 power punches.

And after eight one-sided rounds, Oscar de la Hoya quit on his stool, advised by trainer Nacho Beristain and warned by referee Tony Weeks that the end was near.

Amazing.

It wasn't just a beating. It was an eight-round assault. Manny Pacquiao slaughtered Oscar de la Hoya. He made a very tough, very proud man quit. He forced Oscar de la Hoya to QUIT.

Oscar not only couldn't pull the trigger, he came to this fight unarmed. The speed was too much. The power was too much. The movement, the footwork, the gameplan -- everything was way too much for Oscar de la Hoya. David Diaz was closer to being in the fight against Manny Pacquiao than was Oscar de la Hoya.

Manny Pacquiao so thoroughly dominated Oscar de la Hoya that it made Joe Calzaghe's beating of Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins' whooping of Kelly Pavlik look like child's play.

His punches landed at will. He pinned the taller man against the ropes repeatedly and battered him mercilessly. And Oscar de la Hoya, at 35, had zero answers for the hurricane that is Manny Pacquiao. Absolutely none at all.

Manny and Ricky

Let me tell you something. I like Ricky Hatton. When Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton lock up in 2009 -- and they are going to, we all know that's next -- Manny Pacquiao right now should be favored to flatten Hatton. On paper, that fight is no longer even close, if you ask me.

But then again, how much of this is pro-Pacquiao, and how much of the result of this fight should be considered anti-Oscar? Oscar was terrible tonight. It was without any question the worst performance of Oscar's wonderful, Hall of Fame career.

Retirement?

"My heart still wants to fight, that's for sure, but when your physical doesn't respond, what can you do?"

We'll have more tomorrow evening. For now, all Pacquiao fans revel in the victory. My head picked Oscar; my head was way wrong. My heart was with Manny, the man who could come out of this fight and keep helping boxing for years and years.

He's done it. Manny Pacquiao is the best fighter on the planet, and Larry Merchant put it best: "Manny Pacquiao is a fire that can't be put out."

The main event is still to come, but we're going to have more time to kill, and that's after a thirty-minute break between the second and third fights.

In the first televised bout, Daniel Jacobs stopped Victor Lares in the second round. Totally expected.

The second fight was a joke, as Sergio Medina, an unjustly world-ranked fighter, got a shot at Juan Manuel Lopez's WBO junior featherweight title. Lopez winning early would not be a problem, but the fact that Medina was clearly out of shape and uninterested in fighting is a problem. This is what they offered us for 50 dollars. Medina put on 16 pounds overnight, and went down three times as Lopez landed nine punches. Medina was 1-for-6 on the night. A joke.

And a half hour of interviews and an ignored fight in the background, Victor Ortiz got rid of washed-up Jeff Resto early in the second round after three knockdowns total.

This was atrocious, and HBO, Golden Boy and Top Rank should be embarrassed that they demanded $54.99 from the boxing public for this card. Three utter mismatch showcase fights that wasted the time and showed us nothing about the winning fighters except that they were in against illegitimate competition.

And we've got 40 minutes until we see the main event. 40 minutes of B.S. interviews, boring jabbering between Lampley, Steward and Larry Merchant.

Oh hell, at least we're getting Larry talking to Angelo Dundee.

WE WILL BE LIVE TONIGHT WITH ROUND-BY-ROUND COVERAGE AND SCORING FOR THE BIGGEST FIGHT OF 2008. THE FIGHTS START AT 9PM ET.

If you have never been to BLH before, or if you've never followed our round-by-round coverage before, it's very simple. In the comments for this post, we will do live, round-by-round coverage of all four pay-per-view fights. The section updates automatically every time there's a new post in the comments, and you never have to refresh. Awesome, right?

Join us tonight if you're not ordering, or even if you are. If you aren't, we've got you covered with the best round-by-round coverage on the 'net. If you are ordering, this is your place to talk about the fights as they happen with others who are watching around the world.

Happy fight night, everybody!

Tomorrow evening I'll again be a guest on MMA Nation with Luke Thomas (WJFK 106.7), which you can listen to live online. I'll be on to discuss Oscar-Manny, of course, and I expect we'll probably touch on a couple other things. Luke will also be talking with the excellent writer David Samuels.

MMA Nation is also available via podcast on iTunes.

I'm excited to be on again, and excited to be one day out from this huge fight. It's expected I'll be on the show about 6:30 ET, but do yourself a favor if you have any interest in mixed martial arts and tune in for the whole show -- Luke does a wonderful job, and it's always entertaining.

The weigh-in for tomorrow night's showdown between Oscar de la Hoya and Manny Pacquiao will be broadcast live on ESPNews and apparently on SportsCenter on ESPN at 6pm ET, so in about 40 minutes from now. We'll update this post with the weights if you're not near a TV at that time. It's the last bit of speculation left -- will Oscar make it in? (He will.) Where will Pacquiao weigh in? (I'm guessing 142, 143.)

Kieran Mulvaney weighed in -- if you will -- on rumors that Oscar is having trouble with weight:

De La Hoya looks pretty good to me. Some people have commented that they have heard he really isn't eating anything at this point, and that he's struggling to stay on 147. That wouldn't surprise me; it's normally the case with fighters and Oscar had a hard time making 150 for Forbes. I think he'll weigh in bang on 147 (I think the talk of him weighing 143 at times during camp is bogus) and he'll be somewhere around 155 or more on fight night.

As for the penalties: I asked Eric Gomez of Golden Boy Promotions if there is any truth to the oft-reported notion that De La Hoya will have to pay a certain amount per pound above 147 that he weighs. Eric insists there is absolutely nothing in the contract to that effect.

UPDATE AND WEIGHTS:

Manny Pacquiao: 142 pounds
Oscar de la Hoya: 145 pounds

Juan Manuel Lopez: 122 pounds
Sergio Medina: 122 pounds

Daniel Jacobs: 162 pounds
Victor Lares: 165 pounds

Is Oscar coming in two pounds light a bad thing? I don't know. Pacquiao is about where I expected he would be.

IT'S THE FINAL COUNT DOWN!

We are a little over 24 hours away from the start of the Oscar de la Hoya-Manny Pacquiao pay-per-view, and that means it's time to look at the odds. Lines are taken, as always, from Bodog.

Let's start big. The main event. "The Dream Match." Oscar and Manny, 147 pound limit, the biggest fight of the boxing year.

Oscar de la Hoya is the favorite (-170), but Manny Pacquiao is no huge underdog (+140), either.

It's a fight that so heavily depends on things playing out. It's tough to see the fight in one's mind, because the fight is not one that was really a serious thought until the negotiation process.

You're either betting on Oscar's size being too much for Manny, or Manny's skill and stamina being too much for Oscar. Or Oscar not being able to catch Pacquiao. I hope you don't bet on Manny hurting Oscar, because few ever really have.

Juan Manuel Lopez (-3500) is a massive favorite over Sergio Medina (+1700) in the featured undercard bout, as well he should be. Medina's record looks nice before you take more than a glance at the W-L mark. Like many of his Argentinian brethren, he's beaten no one. His lone loss came against Rey Bautista, who has fallen on rocky times. Lopez should cream him.

Victor Ortiz is the expected favorite (-550) against Jeff Resto (+350), but not by the gaudy odds I thought he might have gotten. Resto is still perhaps carrying a small amount of shine from his younger days.

The biggest overseas fight of the weekend is the WBC super middleweight title clash between Carl Froch (-295) and Jean Pascal (+235). I still think Pascal has a really good shot at beating Froch if he uses his hand speed and moves effectively, but that would be asking Pascal to finally start "getting it" about himself, and getting him to admit he's not Roy Jones circa 1997.

Amir Khan (-1700) is the obvious favorite against club fighter Oisin Fagan (+850). Should be a Khan KO early, but God only knows with that chin.

Hopefully Khan won't become Audley Harrison (-750) who faces Martin Rogan (+450) on the same card. "Rogie" won a Prizefighter tournament in London back in April, sort of a sad sack "Contender" with a bunch of three-round fights. He's 10-0 with five knockouts, but has zero experience against anyone with Harrison's skills. And I realize exactly what I'm saying there, yes.

Colin Lynes (-150) and Paul McCloskey (+120) fight in a few hours for the vacant English junior welterweight title. The English middleweight title is up for grabs tomorrow between Paul Smith (-200) and Steven Bendall (+160).

Bet wisely, if you bet at all.