Freddie Roach says sparring with Edwin Valero won’t help Oscar De La Hoya defeat Manny Pacquiao.
De La Hoya meets Filipino icon Pacquiao in what they’re calling ‘The Dream Match’ in Las Vegas on December 6.
Some experts though view it as a dream mismatch, with the two men fighting a whopping 24lbs apart just a year ago.
Reports suggest Venezuelan knockout artist Valero has been summoned to De La Hoya’s camp in Big Bear to help prepare the ‘Golden Boy’ for Pacquiao.
But the Pacman’s trainer Freddie Roach doesn’t think it will help him come fight time.
He said on a conference call: “Valero fights nothing like Manny Pacquiao. He punches hard but he’s slow as molasses. I think they got the wrong guy.”
The biggest factor in the biggest fight of the year is size, but Roach says Pacquiao is in good shape as he prepares for the move up to welterweight.
“Manny weighs 151 right now. We’re keeping that weight stabilised. We didn’t use any weightlifting or anything like that to make him bigger, because I believe speed wins this fight.
“His body fat is 6 percent. By fight time I think Oscar will probably be about 160lbs and Manny will be about 150lbs. But I’m not bothered about that because I believe speed wins this fight and not size.”
Roach says he’s been heartened by the way Pacquiao has handled bigger sparring partners as he gets ready to step in against De La Hoya.
He also revealed: “Manny in his career obviously hasn’t faced anybody as big as Oscar in the ring. But in the gym Manny and Victor Ortiz went at it toe to toe and Manny handled it with no problem.”
A big factor in the fight is whether Pacquiao can take De La Hoya’s punch, and whether he will carry the same venom at welterweight.
Roach isn’t concerned on either score.
“I think Oscar’s right hand is okay, his left hook is his power shot and something we have to look out for. But we’re working on avoiding that.
“We’re not looking for a knockout, if a knockout comes it comes. We’re going to break this guy down and win each round one at a time. That’s our goal and if Oscar tires, as he normally does, we will stop him.
“I’m not worried about Manny being the knockout puncher in this fight because he’s not that one-punch-knockout type of guy. He breaks people down and gets them out late.”
When talk of De La Hoya and Pacquiao meeting first surfaced it was met by hoots of derision from most pundits. And Roach admits he too didn’t think it could happen.
“I didn’t think it was possible at one point in my life. But as I’ve seen Oscar against little guys and southpaws, he has trouble with both, I starting thinking about it and it made sense to me when the fight was finally offered.
“I pushed for this fight hard because I knew it was a great fight for Manny, this fight is what does for his life, it makes him a superstar. He’s already a great fighter but this is gonna be the icing on the cake.
“The size I don’t think is that big a deal. If a guy has a height advantage or a reach advantage, how hard is that to take away? It’s very easy and Manny has that style to take that advantage away.
“He’s aggressive, he comes forward and when you get close to a guy with long arms they need room, it crowds their punches. I’m not worried about the size.”
