Although Manny Pacquiao was unable to defy the odds by defeating Mario Barrios, there is still a lengthy list of top opposition ‘Pac-Man’ had disposed of.
Despite many fans feeling Pacquiao got the better of Barrios in their welterweight title match, the result was a majority draw.
A win for Pacquiao in Las Vegas on Saturday night would have ranked well on his resume. However, there are plenty of notable victories across his 30-year career.
In 2008, Pacquiao’s superstardom shot up as he was able to score one of the biggest wins of his career.
Manny Pacquiao raised his profile further with a stoppage of Oscar De La Hoya
In December 2008, Pacquiao would take on one of the most notable opponents of his career, facing Oscar De La Hoya.
The bout was contested at 147 lbs, despite Pacquiao knocking out David Diaz at 135 lbs just six months prior. However, the jump in weight was seemingly not an issue for Pacquiao, who dominated his opponent.
After leading the bout through eight completed rounds, De La Hoya did not emerge for the ninth round. Pacquiao was the winner against De La Hoya, whose record fell to 39-6.
De La Hoya later went on to say that he was told not to accept a bout with Pacquiao, given the qualities the Filipino fighter possessed, and the stage of ‘Golden Boy’s’ career.
Although Pacquiao was already a multi-weight champion when he faced De La Hoya, it was one of the highest-profile names he had ever faced. This meant that following his dominant win, he began the trajectory to becoming the star he is today.
Manny Pacquiao explains how he defeated Oscar De La Hoya in 2008
In an interview with Andre Ward for All The Smoke Fight, Pacquiao revealed how he was able to defeat De La Hoya.
‘Pac-Man’ reveals that after receiving a call from Bob Arum regarding a potential fight with De La Hoya, Pacquiao took a couple of days to consider the offer.
During this time, Pacquiao said he spent the time watching tape of De La Hoya. “I studied my style and his style. [I thought] what are we doing to do to beat him? After three days, I called Bob. I said ‘Bob? Okay, I can fight him.'”
After spending some days studying De La Hoya, Pacquiao said he ‘knew what he was going to do’ to his opponent, leading him to accept the fight.
The Filipino fighter went on to say that he studied throughout his training camp for De La Hoya, “I studied every day.”
Pacquiao also added that he only threw punches that he knew would land on De La Hoya, based on his studies, before crediting his movement for his victory also.
When asked by Ward if he was surprised by how the fight played out, Pacquiao replied, “No. The result of the fight, we really expected that.”