To Freddie Roach: Speed is relative
Cointry -- "..I believe speed wins this fight." trainer Freddie Roach was referring to Manny Pacquiao on his 147lb bout with Oscar de la Hoya at the MGM Grand on December 6, 2008.
"It was all his speed. I could see the punches perfectly, but he was just too fast." David Diaz said on a post fight interview. He was knockdown by Manny Pacquiao on the 9th round at their Mandalay Bay encounter for the WBC lightweight (135lb) title last June 28, 2008.
But it was a different story with Juan Manuel Marquez. Marquez neutralized the speed of Pacquiao after the first round of their first fight,much more on their rematch last March 15, 2008. He was much quicker that he can parry the straight left of Manny in the later rounds. Given two more rounds, Marquez could have completely dominated Pacquiao.
So speed is relative. Manny could be quick or less quicker depending on who is in front of him. Actually no. Manny's speed became famous in the boxing world in his first fight with Marco Antonio Barrera. On that fight, Manny threw about 100 punches per round from the 2nd to the 11th round most of them hard-hitting. But Pacquiao was boring in their rematch four years after. Barrera exposed weakness on Pacquiao's offense thereby slowing him down. Speed became irrelevant in winning a fight.
Can Oscar de la Hoya match the speed of Manny Pacquiao? If Marquez can, perhaps Oscar can. That's why De la Hoya got the services of Nacho Beristain, the trainer coach of Juan Manuel Marquez.
There are two things about speed in boxing. First one is accuracy. What is the use of of throwing 60 punches per second if it is not hitting the target. Oscar is more slower but more accurate than Manny. In the DeLaHoya-Mayweather fight, the first punches came from De La Hoya. It was an over right hand followed by seven successive left hook to the body of Mayweather. That was speed. Can Manny Pacquiao replicate it? Don't bother Manny, De La Hoya's punches didn't hit the target. The second thing with speed is when a boxer was hit really very hard; And speed become irrelevant again.
