BOXING fans now have an opportunity to watch the Oscar De La Hoya versus Manny Pacquiao fight.

Limited seats have been made available following an arena reconfiguration for “The Dream Match” at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The match will feature two of boxing’s biggest attractions: Olympic gold medalist and 10-time world champion De La Hoya and current Ring Magazine No. 1-ranked pound-for-pound champion Pacquiao.

They are scheduled to fight on December 6 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

MGM said tickets are now on sale and available for purchase here and here.

The bout will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View beginning at 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PST.

With the match between Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao nearing (December 6), expect to hear more analysis and word war between the two camps. Will it be Pacquiao or De La Hoya? Is Pacquiao ready to face the bigger De La Hoya? Will the predictions or speculations turn out in favor of one? But what are the people saying about this match. Here are some samples we’ve gathered so far through e-mail.

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Freddie Roach, who has been a consistent handler of boxing champ Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao surely knows his fighter and the science of boxing. Freddie Roach’s prediction that it will end on the 9th or 10th round is 95 percent sure. Let’s all bet on our national treasure even at 10:7. On the other hand, the camp of De La Hoya is lead by a new handler who has a good track record but his fighter is new to him. Antonio Iturralde, Zamboanga City, via e-mail

Even though I’m a naturalized American citizen now for many years, I still have that Filipino roots and upbringing with me so naturally I always root for Pacquiao whenever he has a fight. But I want to tell you that this time I’m not rooting for anyone. Why? It is not because the Golden Boy is a Mexican. From the boxing standpoint, Pacquiao can’t win. I’m no boxing genius but I have this feeling that Pacquiao will have his first defeat at the hands of the Golden Boy. And, I think it will be bloody. I have never seen such confidence from the Mexican population here in New York. And their points aside from being practical are mostly based on statistics. One thing they always point out is it should be quick and easy. Golden Boy will finish Pacquiao in the 3rd round or it will be a draw. Mariano Beltran, New York City, via e-mail

We also welcome other opinions about this bout through this blog.

Franchis Ochoa writes that amid the “distraction” caused by WBC fee issue, Freddie Roach is confident Manny Pacquiao will deliver.

Excerpt:

MANILA, Philippines—Amid the “distraction” wrought by the issue of unpaid sanction fees, confidence within Team Pacquiao continues to soar with the belief that the Dec. 6 “Dream Match” at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas won’t end up being a nightmare.

For Manny Pacquiao, that is.

As far as Freddie Roach is concerned, Oscar De La Hoya is going to wake up bewildered after Pacquiao puts him to sleep somewhere in the first nine rounds of the year’s most anticipated fight.

“I’m so confident in Pacquiao in this fight,” Roach told FoxSports.com’s Mark Kriegel during an exclusive video interview. “We’re going to knock (De La Hoya) out nine rounds.”

What is this issue distracting Pacquiao all about?

Philboxing.com’s Ronnie Nathanielsz offers this explanation in a recent column.

Nathanielz writes:

The fundamental procedure is for a promoter to deduct the sanction fee from the boxers’ purses and make the payment to the sanctioning body concerned. If there was non-payment or shortfall then Pacquiao should not be the one to be castigated by the WBC. It should be the promoter because that’s his job although the sanction fee is levied on the fighter.

WBC president Jose Sulaiman after an initial, certainly untimely and emotional outburst against Pacquiao, quickly moderated his tone when we called him at his hotel suite in Chengdu , China . Regrettably however, the damage had already been done to our national treasure as well as the image of the Philippines and to undo the wrong will take some doing.

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.

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.

Boxing superstars Oscar de la Hoya and Manny Pacquiao will each make one of the biggest announcements of their respective careers when they officially announce their December 6 megafight at the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island in New York City.

The press event, the first ever to take place on Liberty Island, will kick-off a six-city press tour marking the official announcement of what is a dream match-up for sports fans and one of the biggest fights in boxing history.

While the Statue of Liberty hosts more than five million visitors each year, this will be the first press conference ever held on Liberty Island. Dedicated in 1886, the Statue of Liberty was a gift from France to the United States.

The Pacquiao-De La Hoya fight is a 12-round, 147-pound welterweight bout set for Saturday, Dec. 6 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“Although I am from the Philippines, the United States has given me the greatest opportunity to advance my career and financial security for my family and me,” said Pacquiao. “Many Filipinos and some of my family members live there and the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of the great opportunities offered by the United States to the rest of the world.”

“Having the opportunity to announce the fight at the Statue of Liberty is like a dream come true for me,” said De La Hoya. “As the son of immigrants and a very proud Mexican-American, I believe the Statue of Liberty is the United States’ greatest symbol of freedom and opportunity.”

In addition to the Statue of Liberty stop, the De La Hoya versus Pacquiao press tour will stop at other monumental locations across the United States. The tour schedule is as follows:

• October 1 New York City-Statue of Liberty-Open to the Public (Noon)
• October 2 Chicago, IL-Sears Tower-Media Only (Noon)
• October 3 Houston, TX-Space Center Houston-Media Only (11:00 am)
• October 3 San Antonio, TX-The Alamo-Open to the Public (3:00 pm)
• October 4 San Francisco, CA-Golden Gate Park Chrissy Field-Open to the Public (Noon)
• October 7 Los Angeles, CA-Whittier Boulevard Arch-Open to the Public (Noon)

Yes, Mexican boxer Juan Manuel Marquez wants to be in Oscar De La Hoya’s shoes right now, as he declared that this match is going to be “a great, great fight.”

Excerpt from  Salven Lagumbay’s report: 

Although he is salivating to be in Oscar De la Hoya’s shoes, Mexican icon Juan Manuel Marquez says the Dec. 6 battle between his tormentor Manny Pacquiao and his promoter Oscar De la Hoya is going to be “a great, great fight.”

Marquez was reacting to a question posed by the media as he prepares to challenge Ring Magazine lightweight king Joel Casamayor on Sunday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

“Well, I mean that’s (De La Hoya-Pacquiao) a fight that everybody wants to see, everybody is talking about it now,” said Marquez, who still insists that he beat Pacquiao in their two outings in 2004 and 2008.

UPDATE: In this video, Manny Pacquiao announces his plans to retire next year and his intention to run for politics in 2010. Pacquiao says he will be retiring after three more fights, including the one with Oscar De La Hoya.

MANNY “Pacman” Pacquiao that he never imagined the day he would be fighting Oscar “The Golden Boy” De La Hoya in the ring. Admitting his admiration for the Mexican fighter, Pacquiao also believes that he is ready to face a tough opponent.

Marc Anthony Reyes of the Philippine Daily Inquirer writes:

For national boxing hero Manny Pacquiao, fighting Oscar De La Hoya “was never in his wildest dreams.”

Openly declaring his admiration for one of boxing’s biggest stars, Pacquiao wrote in his column in the tabloid Abante that he never thought he would be in the ring soon with De La Hoya, seven years after fighting in his undercard at the same MGM Grand venue.

Fans also see a knockout win for Pacquiao, writes Reyes.

The majority of online boxing fans believe that Manny Pacquiao will pull off a “shock knockout” victory over his boyhood idol Oscar De La Hoya when they clash on Dec. 6 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

In a poll conducted by the Pacquiao website Pacland, 46 percent of the respondents said the national boxing hero will beat the taller, bigger and craftier De La Hoya.

Boxing observers also share the same opinion, favoring a win for Pacquiao.

Former boxer Barry McGuigan, in an article on the Internet, wrote that De La Hoya will “have Pacquiao on the end of that long jab and will be looking to drop the right hand on him at every opportunity.”

McGuigan expects Pacquiao’s corner, though, to draft a clever war strategy— “courtesy of the great tactician Freddie Roach”—to “bring De La Hoya down.”

“Pacquiao will want to dictate terms, apply pressure from the center of the ring, keep the tempo high,” said McGuigan. “If De La Hoya is weight-drained, the body will be a big target for Pacquiao to take away his opponent’s strength and resolve.”

MANNY PACQUIAO has made history, knocking out David Diaz in the 9th round to become the new World Boxing Council lightweight champ.

Four world titles in four weight classes, baby!

MANNY PACQUIAO, who faces David Diaz for the latter’s World Boxing Council lightweight crown on June 28 in Las Vegas, shows off his hand speed in this public workout before the media to drum up interest in the upcoming bout.

Video taken by INQUIRER.net US sales director Esther Misa Chavez in Berkeley, California.