In case you're new to the sport and drawn in by the curiosity of this Saturday's big pay-per-view matchup, or if you just want to relive some of the finer moments in the careers of Manny Pacquiao and Oscar de la Hoya, HBO has made available via YouTube their "Greatest Hits" features on both fighters.
If you've been here a while, you know I started off against this fight. Many here did, many around the glove did. As its drawn closer, I've accepted it as a reality and as a great attraction, one boxing needs to close out 2008. And now that we're in fight week, it has really hit me: Manny Pacquiao is going to fight Oscar de la Hoya on Saturday night, and it's a big deal. Consider me having done a 150º, if not a total 180º. I'm pretty stoked to see it play out.
We've also got a new poll up on the right sidebar, because the time is here. Pick the winner, gang. You have until Saturday at 9:45 ET.
Pacquiao's Greatest Hits:
Can't argue with the lineup, though I do find it somewhat humorous and applaudable that HBO was able to and decided to boil down Pacquiao-Barrera II into mostly the moments where Barrera decided to trade. Those moments were few and far between and mostly contained within the first six rounds, after which he barely touched Pacquiao save for a cheapshot. Of 2007 fights, that one was really high on the list of most disappointing.
De la Hoya's Greatest Hits:
This one's a little more oddly compiled. Really, the Steve Forbes win? It's rough enough to show him going 3-3 in these clips, and then you realize he beat Fernando Vargas, Ricardo Mayorga and Forbes, and the losses came to top fighters Tito Trinidad, Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather.
I guess you don't want to go all the way back to 1997 against Sweet Pea Whitaker, which is irrelevant at this point, and neither of the Chavez wins ever sat right with a whole lot of people, whether that's unfair or not. No point in showing the Hopkins loss, either, since 160 pounds is irrelevant, too. So I suppose if you decide to start with Trinidad...yeah, this is about as good as it gets. But still, Steve Forbes? Could've shown the dismantling of the ever-popular Gatti, or edited the Sturm win down to make it look like Oscar won even on an off-night. Hey, they made Pacquiao-Barrera II look good...
This is all just a sampling, of course. Both have had other big fights, big wins, and big moments. But for whetting your appetite for this big money showdown, hard to argue.