Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez is not rooting for Oscar De La Hoya nor is he picking Manny Pacquiao to win their much-ballyhooed Dec. 6 bout in Las Vegas.
Still bitter over his 1996 and 1998 stoppage losses to De La Hoya, an American citizen of pure Mexican lineage, Chavez downplayed Pacquiao?s chances of upsetting the naturally bigger De La Hoya, who has a four-inch advantage in height at 5-foot-10 and six inch edge in wingspan at 73 inches.
So, does Pacquiao have a chance of winning?
“Only if De La Hoya doesn?t have hands,” Chavez sarcastically told noted fight scribe Norm Frauenheim of the Arizona Republic in a story that was carried by 15rounds.com yesterday.
Frauenheim said Chavez was in town “to endorse a Phoenix law firm.”
“He wound up condemning Oscar De La Hoya,” wrote Frauenheim.
Chavez, who fought 115 times in a professional career that lasted 25 years (1980 to 2005), said he remains mystified why the Golden Boy opted to take on a puny puncher like Pacquiao, who started out as a light-flyweight (108 lbs) instead of a fellow big man like Antonio Margarito of Mexico.
Chavez, now 48, said Pacquiao is more admired and loved than De La Hoya in Mexico because of Pacquiao?s devil-may-care attitude on top of the ring.
“If he thinks beating Pacquiao will make Mexicans love him, he?s crazy,” snorted Chavez.
