If there is a so called sportswriter who depends too much on prejudice and not allowing proper reason to make a justified prediction on a boxing result there is one person that I know of. I rarely talk about these sports scribes but I have to mention this on my blog because I can't really understand how this person thinks or analyze boxers in an upcoming bout. It seems pure hatred which could have clouded his already poor opinion.
In the field of sports-writing, a journalist should not be biased to one or prejudice another that would affect ones good sense of judgment. One writer should look at a fighter's strengths and weaknesses and assess the possibility of a win by either fighter, not one sided result as predicted by this so called boxing expert. His one sided predictions are all for the opponents of Pacquiao and he truly believes that he'll get a good beating from his opponents.
To make my point clear, I'll be posting his three fearless predictions and you be the judge. I will not mention a name (yet) and just read below a portion of his columns and see what I mean.
PREDICTION NO. 1 DECEMBER 5, 2008: ON PACQUIAO VS. DELA HOYA
Though Pacquiao has a reputation for hurting people in the super featherweight division, his punches won’t have nearly the same effect against De La Hoya, whom has been fighting as a light middleweight for the past seven years and is accustomed to taking punches from much bigger fighters than the 130 pound Pacquiao. It’s all well and good that Pacquiao will be coming into the fight at roughly the same weight as De La Hoya, but the added weight that Pacquiao put on won’t translate to him hitting any harder than he ever did as a super featherweight. In truth, he’ll probably punch a lot less harder than he did previously and will still be the equivalent of a super featherweight fighting a light middleweight. Pacquiao, without being able to reach the taller De La Hoya, will be totally neutralized, and totally helpless to stop him from controlling the fight from the outside. Pacquiao, 29, has never fought anyone close to being as big and as skilled as De La Hoya, with, perhaps, the closest thing coming to him being 5'8? Erik Morales, who gave Pacquiao fits in their first fight, beating the Filipino star by a 12-round decision.
PREDICTION NO.2: PACQUIAO VS HATTON May 2, 2009 Hatton Wins Weigh-in Stare Down, Pacquiao Looks Scared "Pacquiao couldn’t handle the stare down, started smiling sheepishly and reached out to shake Hatton’s hands, as if surrendering to the more powerful fighter. Hatton was having none of it, and continued to look straight at Pacquiao, eyes not blinking and looking like a stone cold punching machine. Hatton was not smiling and looked like he wanted to tear Pacquiao’s head off with a punch. Pacquiao, cringing a little, put his hands up by his ribs as if were expect Hatton to lay into his body with a huge punch at any second. I felt sorry for Pacquiao at that moment because he looked like he was literally melting away in front of a large sun. I wasn’t entirely sure who was going to win tonight’s fight until I saw the weigh-in, and now I’m positively certain that Hatton will be knocking Pacquiao out before long. I’m just wondering how Pacquiao is going to perform? I just don’t like the way he looked out there, like he wanted to find a hole to hide his head or something. Sheesh! Well, I just hope that Pacquiao makes it interesting for a little while at least and doesn’t stink up the joint by folding too quickly. Hatton is the much stronger fighter, and this will be a huge step up in class for Pacquiao. He really has nothing to compare to what he’ll be facing tonight against Hatton. "
PREDICTION No. 3: PACQUIAO VS COTTO NOVEMBER 4, 2009 I want to give Pacquiao more of a chance in this fight, but I just can’t see him winning against Cotto. The main reason is the size factor. Pacquiao looks far too small to compete against a natural welterweight like Cotto, and I suspect he’s going to get beaten to a royal pulp by Cotto. If Pacquiao wanted to prove that he was the real deal in the welterweight division, and thus earn his number #1 ranking in the World Boxing Organization, then he should have faced at a minimum Shane Mosley, Margarito, Andre Berto, Floyd Mayweather or Paul Williams. I know the welterweight division is one of the sorriest in all of boxing, but you can’t go fighting a shot De La Hoya and a shop worn light welterweight Hatton and be considered the top dog. Pacquiao needed to face better fighters – read: fighters in their prime – instead of Hatton and De La Hoya. And Pacquiao’s speed won’t matter one little bit. Speed is power, but when you have someone as small as Pacquiao, you need more than speed to win; You need size, and that’s something that Pacquiao is in short supply if in this fight. I’m right about this and you’ll agree with me later. I know boxing fans like Pacquiao because he’s the new flavor of the month, but when they see him against Cotto they’ll realize that the emperor has no clothes. Pacquiao is like fools gold. He looks good on paper, but when you put him in against Cotto, Pacquiao is going to look as bad as he did against Shawn Porter in the HBO Pacquiao-Cotto 24/7 episode.
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To sum up his boxing analysis:
Before the fight with Dela Hoya, this writer thinks Pacquiao is too small and his punches would be ineffective on the bigger guy. Against Hatton, Pacquiao is even too scared to look straight to Hatton's eyes and that he will end up getting knocked out by the British Bomber. And now against Cotto, he is telling us that he fought guys who are past their prime and not really quality fighters. He mentioned names like Shane Mosley, Margarito, Andre Berto, Floyd Mayweather and Paul Williams. He never even menttioned Miguel Cotto. Which I would think that Miguel Cotto is not a member of his list of elite fighters. But he believes Cotto will give Pacquiao a really nasty beating.
But I must admire this guy for he writes his column and predicts fights fearlessly before the actual fight and you got to have really tough nuts to muster that courage to write such daring forecasts. And the hell he'll be receiving in his inbox once he's wrong and how to excuse himself on doing so.
Now let us wait and see what happens on November 14. You may want to know who wrote the above boxing predictions?
Raul B. Romilla
boxingfanatico.blogspot.com
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