Meet the new Golden Boy: Pacquiao reigns over de la Hoya

MANILA, Philippines - Oscar de la Hoya threw in the towel before the start of the ninth round, giving the huge upset win to Manny Pacquiao.

Pacquiao's victory was officially a technical knockout.

Just a year ago, Pacquiao facing de la Hoya appeared an improbable prospect.

Pacquiao's victory over his iconic opponent on Sunday (Saturday, US time) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas could not have been thinkable in a lifetime.

In a virtual passing of the torch, Pacquiao seized the mantle as boxing's top draw away from de la Hoya, the acknowledged king of pay-per-view TV

Now, meet boxing's new Golden Boy.

"He deserves all the credit. He was the better man. He deserves all the accolades," de la Hoya said.

"He's just a great fighter. I have nothing to say bad about him. He prepared well," he added.

"I'm not shocked. At this stage, it's almost expected. I worked hard. I trained hard. But being here and training at the gym is different."

In the eighth round, Pacquiao kept de la Hoya bouncing back against the ropes for much of the round.

As the commentators put it, Pacquiao has been landing more punches than De la Hoya, who seemed reluctant to let go, as if waiting for his opponent to come and in and expose himself.

Both fighters started the World Boxing Council (WBC) bout tentative in their moves as they sized each other up, but De la Hoya was visibly a bit more tense than Pacquiao.

Pacquiao managed to sneak in several punches to De la Hoya's face in the first round, putting his fans into a frenzy of cheers. The Golden Boy had some trouble landing his punches on the visibly quicker Pacman.

The fighters went through the third round with a slightly slower pace, but with Pacquiao keeping his aim at the Golden Boy's face. Pacman landed a solid jab smack into De la Hoya's face at one point.

The fourth to seventh rounds went through in a similar pace, with Pacquiao landing more punches, mostly in De la Hoya's face. Halfway through the round Pacquiao had De la Hoya backed in a corner, attacking him with a flurry of punches.

De la Hoya ended the seventh round with a burst of energy, but as the bell rang he was visibly winded, with a swelling under the left eye. - GMANews.TV