What if? - A slight change of modern history...

Hi everyone,

I hope everyone is dandy this weekend!

I have been thinking (and I'm sorry if this has ever been covered off before!)... what if Oscar never pushed/signed for the Manny fight? I like to believe that if it wasn't for De La Hoya being demolished by Pacquaio in what some called a "freakshow fight" (a natural Jnr Middle against a natural Lightweight), Pacquaio may not be as revered.

Cast your minds back to May 2008 when Ricky Hatton was fighting Juan Lazcano, Oscar De La Hoya was quite vocal about a fight with Ricky. Saying the fight with Lazcano would be a great build up to a fight between the biggest draws in the US and UK. Oscar talked about having the fight in the UK - it would have been massive...

Now, let's say Ricky took the fight against Oscar instead of Mallignaggi. Thus Oscar leaving Pacquaio out in the dark. Ricky looked a little more reinvigerated when fighting Mallignaggi but his punch resistance is still questionable, Oscar looked like a zombie against Pacquaio. The fight could have gone either way, but I would fancy Hatton in this one UD.

Oscar retires happy with a bigger paycheck than when he fought Pacquaio and less likely to hit the Class A's, Hatton continues and is also less likely to hit the Class A's... (think I'm onto something there?!).

With Pacquaio out of the loop a little and the casual fans not knowing who he is, where would it leave him? Who would have Hatton or Pacquaio fought next?

Disagree...He signed for paccy because he was a name and revered...

Nobody really gives Manny that much credit for the Oscar win anyway..

Think most even-minded people saw a badly weight drained Oscar that left his fight on the scales...

Shame it wasn't at 154..

Agree with the badley weight drained Oscar, anyone on the night would have seen the guys body just couldn't rehydrate and he was in trouble the moment he cut down so much.

My point being, without the Oscar win, I can't see where he would currently be in terms of opponents and box office draw.

It's safe to say he's one of the biggest draws in the sport, despite some of the questionable fights he's signing... Would it have been the same if he had gone straight out and fought Cotto?