Julio Cesar Chavez came to endorse a Phoenix law firm. He wound up condemning Oscar De La Hoya.
Chavez, his dark eyes flashing contempt like sparks off flint, ripped De La Hoya during a news conference at Central Boxing near downtown Phoenix for his old rival?s fight against Manny Pacquiao on Dec. 6 at Las Vegas? MGM Grand.
Chavez is baffled by De La Hoya?s decision to fight the smaller Pacquiao in a welterweight bout he mocked as an off-the-scale mismatch.
Yes, Chavez said, Pacquiao, a former junior-flyweight, has a chance against the former middleweight ?only if De La Hoya doesn?t have hands.??
The only hands necessary, perhaps, will be the many needed to count the money De La Hoya-Pacquiao is expected to generate. Chavez mentioned dinero during his rhetorical assault Wednesday just as brokers, Vegas casinos, various other high-rollers and maybe even a few regular fans bought enough tickets for a live gate that will reportedly approach $17 million, boxing?s second biggest ever.
There is a many-sided temptation, perhaps cynical, to say that Chavez? undisguised contempt is rooted in frustration that still smolders from two losses to De La Hoya so long ago. The Chavez pride, like the scars from 115 fights that crisscross his forehead and frame his eyes, will always be there.
