After a long and proud career that saw title winning efforts in many weight classes, Oscar De La Hoya looked like a shadow of himself in the ring at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas last night as he was dismantled with relative ease by lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao as the two met in a non-title bout at welterweight.

De La Hoya came into the bout after scaling his lightest weight in more than a decade and it was apparent early on in the contest that the 35 year old was no longer in possession of his once magnificent reflexes.

This was to prove to be disastrous against the very quick and agile Pacquaio as the Filipino superstar simply couldn't miss with much of what he threw, particularly a hard and accurate southpaw lead left hand that De La Hoya ate repeatedly.

Aside from a few body shots and the occasional hook or right hand, De La Hoya landed very little of consequence and by the seventh round of the contest seemed unable to throw a punch as the marauding Pacquiao just busted up "The Golden Boy" without having to fear any return fire.

De La Hoya was absorbing tremendous punishment and looked to be heading for a knockout loss but avoided that eventuality by electing not to come out of his corner for the eighth frame.

Manny Pacquiao picks up the biggest win of his career, improving his record to 48-3-2 (36) and could possibly be headed to a massive matchup in England with light welter kingpin Ricky Hatton.

Oscar De La Hoya drops to 39-6 (3) after suffering his third loss in his last five outings.

On the undercard, super bantam Juan Manuel Lopez, 24-0 (22), stopped Sergio Manuel Media, 33-2 (18), in the first round for the WBO title and Victor Ortiz, 23-1-1 (18), stopped Jeffrey Resto, 22-3 (13), in the second for the WBO NABO Light Welter crown.

Super bantam prospect Jesus Rojas, 13-1 (10), suffered his first loss when upset in an eight rounder by veteran Jose Angel Beranza, 31-14-2 (25), and super middle hopeful Danny Jacobs, 13-0 (12), stayed perfect with a second round stoppage of Victor Lares, 14-4 (3).

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