While the action in the ring was certainly a surprise, the night as a whole was entirely anti-climactic. The three young stars lined up on the undercard each breezed through their matches leaving a huge gap in the coverage that had to be filled with banter between Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant, and that is never a good thing. As for the main event, it could best be described as, well, kind of sad. Pacquiao sent de la Hoya into retirement with authority, although it's hard to give the world's best (active) fighter too much credit, because his opponent was so awful on this night.

For Pacquiao, the world is his oyster, to be consumed as he sees fit. Manny can pretty much make any fight he wants, and in his choice of weight classes to boot. The ideal scenario for boxing fans (and Manny's bank account) would be for the previous pound-for-pound champion, one Floyd Mayweather Jr. to come out of retirement for what would be a real dream match.

While Oscar's days in the ring are over, he'll remain a fixture in the boxing world thanks to his savvy as a business man. Hopefully now that his own career is coming to an end he and his company will begin to focus on the bevy of talented young fighters on the landscape that have been woefully under-promoted to date instead of relying on the stars of a previous generation to pay the bills.

On a side note, check out Pacman's shoes! Those things are fucking hot, and I'm sure Imelda Marcos approves. A friend of mine, and fellow sneakerhead, has a theory that the man with the better shoes wins every big fight, and for at least one night he was right.

Both fighters surprised pretty much everyone at yesterday's weight in, de la Hoya for weighing a couple of pounds less than expected at 145 and Pacquiao for coming in a couple of pounds more than expected at 142. What this means is that de la Hoya probably pushed himself a bit too far in order to come down in weight for the fight, something Pacquiao's camp noted when he was seen running the track in a plastic suit in recent days. For de la Hoya the big question is going to be conditioning, and whether or not he can hold on in the championship rounds, something that's dogged him in the past.

For Pacquiao coming in at 142 is a pretty clear sign that his camp was concerned over the size difference, and wanted to even things up as much as possible. I have no damn clue how Pacman put on that weight, because as you can see doesn't have any extra flesh on that body despite jumping up two weight classes. Regardless, he may not be quite as fast as we've seen in the past, but he'll still be able to run circles around his competitor.

As for a prediction, frankly I have no damn clue what's going to happen. For months I've been operating on the presumption that de la Hoya is just far too big for Pacquiao, but now that the fight has arrived I'm not so sure. If Pacquiao can keep things close in the first half of the fight he can steal this thing in the final rounds as de la Hoya begins to wilt with age and the effects of his weight loss. Frankly I wouldn't be surprised by any outcome, but for now I'm sticking with de la Hoya in a decision. Because hey, Vegas is more his turn than it is Manny's, and I don't see Pacman doing enough to over the course of the fight to win on points.

If you are planning to order the fight tonight be sure not to miss the lead-in fights, which promise to provide the best action of the evening. The undercard may not be stacked with names recognizable to the casual observer, but promoters Bob Arum and Golden Boy Promotions have included a few of the sports most sensational rising stars in the festivities. So forget about the Big 12 title game (the Okies are going to roll anyways) and tune in to watch the incredible knockout power of guys like "Vicious" Victor Ortiz and Juan Manuel (Juanma) Lopez. Guys like this are the future of the sport, and it's great to see them getting a piece of the spotlight on what's sure to be the biggest pay-per-view event of the year.

For more thoughts on the fight be sure to check out Large's takes at The Sporting Blog and No Mas as well as Tim Starks' ultimate guide to the fight over at Queensberry Rules.