Oscar De La Hoya is not awed by the blinding speed of Manny Pacquiao.
Speaking to the Houston Chronicle on the day the Dec. 6 travelling circus made a stop at the Space Center on Friday, De La Hoya said he knows what it takes to neutralize Pacquiao?s advantage in reflexes when they finally lock horns at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
“I?ll give you one secret here ? offset his punches. He?s very fast,” admitted De La Hoya in an interview with Fran Blinebury of the Chronicle. “But one thing that one of my old trainers told me was that you can have the fastest fighter in the world in front of you. But if you time his punches, you can become faster than he is. I?m gonna work on that and take it from there.”
De La Hoya also took the opportunity to lash out at Pacquiao trainer ? and one-time De La Hoya cornerman, Freddie Roach ? saying there?ll come a time in the fight when Roach would probably murmur to his fighter, “Houston, we have a problem.”
“I have heard Freddie Roach said, ?If Oscar was 29 or 28, I would never take this fight.? So to me it?s such a motivation. These are the type of events that get me going, get me fired up. Because at this point of my career, I need something different to get me into that gym, to wake me up at five in the morning to go run, to stay away from my family for two months and stay up in the mountains,” said the 35-year-old De La Hoya, who is a 2-1 favorite over Pacquiao, according to oddsmakers.
From Houston, De La Hoya and Pacquiao made a short trip to San Antonio, where they struck a pose at The Alamo for another press gig.
After the brief stop there, their respective teams flew to San Francisco for the penultimate leg of the promotional tour scheduled on Saturday. Pacquiao will spend the night in the Bay Area for a fund-raiser. The last stop will be in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
For the nth time, De La Hoya defended Pacquiao as his choice of opponent for what is undoubtedly the biggest fight of 2008.
“This is one of those events where people are gonna be curious what gonna happen. It?s nothing new to boxing. In the 40s and 50s, you had the welterweight champion move up all the way to heavyweight and fight the big guys,” added De La Hoya, who will start high-altitude training camp in Big Bear as soon as the tour is over.
Pacquiao, who will train exclusively at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, said his speed and his hunger will propel him past the Golden Boy.
