A flaw has been discovered in Oscar dela Hoya’s recent fights, writes Roy Luarca, citing boxing observer Robert Cassidy.

Excerpt:

In his article on www.newsday.com on Sunday, boxing writer Robert Cassidy noted that De La Hoya was leading against such tough foes as Felix Trinidad, Bernard Hopkins, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Sugar Shane Mosley only to allow victory to escape his grasp.

De La Hoya fans may point out to incompetent judges as the culprit, said Cassidy, but ring pundits also noted that the ageing 10-time world champion seemed to be fading in the last few rounds.

At 35 now, De La Hoya may no longer be the deadly finisher who sowed terror in the ring in six weight divisions.

Meanwhile, Recah Trinidad recalls Leonard’s advice to Manny Pacquiao: he shouldn’t forget his shield.

Recah writes: “Leonard put it bluntly and told Pacquiao he won’t stand a chance against Oscar De La Hoya if he forgets his shield, no matter how flimsy, in the dugout.

“That, you bet, is a big improvement from what the sage Angelo Dundee had predicted when he swore that he didn’t see any chance of Pacquiao winning over De La Hoya.”

Says Leonard: “As the smaller guy, Pacquiao will be very aggressive. But he must protect himself from the big punches, he has to be defensive.”

Trinidad says Leonard admits Pacquiao is “open and very vulnerable when he’s on the attack,” as he predicted an interesting match.

Definitely, this won’t be a mismatch, Trinidad adds, quoting Leonard.

By Anna Valmero
INQUIRER.net

PASIG CITY, Philippines — Start them on a sport while their young.

This has been the inspiration of Toby’s Youth Badminton Championships. Now on its sixth year, the cup continues to attract young talent to compete with other badminton players of their own age.

Toby Claudio, vice president for operations at Toby’s Sports said starting sports development at the “grassroots” level — meaning the youth — is the best way to keep the local talent pool fresh and helps offer better training to athletes.

“Often, we believe that training is for a selected pool of very talented athletes. But the key to develop and hone players is to offer the opportunity to as many kids as possible. From here, players will emerge as they learn in the court and during their early training,” Claudio said.

One of the challenges for young badminton talents is how to get exposure and experience in competitions, given that most of these cater to the yuppies and working class players. Through their badminton cup, Claudio hopes they are helping the youth gain experience and exposure while playing at the court and get acknowledged as they publish results of the competition. At present, 10 to 15 players from the cup were drafted in the national team.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

More verbal tussle between the camp of Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao in this recent story written by Marc Anthony Reyes. One thing is for sure, this is going to be a fight that you don’t want to miss.

Excerpt:

The fight is still two months away, but Oscar De La Hoya is already throwing verbal jabs at the man whose derisive taunt challenged him into fighting again.

And it’s not Manny Pacquiao, but Freddie Roach.

Just before hitting the second stop of a fight promotion tour in Chicago, De La Hoya boasted that he has a training headstart of one and half months over Pacquiao, and that he’s just 5 lbs away from the 147 lb catch weight.

The 10-time, six-division champ also took a dig at Pacquiao’s trusted corner man, saying the two-time Trainer of the Year got it all wrong during his sensational split decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year.

“He (Roach) knows my training regimen, but he doesn’t know everything,” De La Hoya was quoted by thesweetscience.com.