LOS ANGELES ? Oscar De La Hoya is reportedly serious in fighting Manny Pacquiao, the Filipino southpaw?s chief trainer disclosed on Wednesday at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood.
“I have been told that they (Golden Boy Promotions) are having a tough time getting (Floyd) Mayweather to sign for the rematch,” said Freddie Roach, hinting that the proposed Sept. 20 second meeting between De La Hoya and Mayweather in Las Vegas is not yet written in stone.
“Oscar wants Manny,” said Roach, who now sounds convinced that a fight with the Golden Boy is no longer ridiculous but something that is feasible in the near future.
Roach said the 35-year-old De La Hoya is willing to go down to 147 lbs and he is upbeat about the 29-year-old Pacquiao?s performance at that weight level.
“Manny was about 145, 146 lbs the night he fought (Juan Manuel) Marquez,” said Roach, who escaped death over the weekend when the SUV he was driving was hit twice on his way back to Hollywood from Morongo Casino in Cabazon after attending a fight.
De La Hoya is scheduled to face Steve Forbes of the US on May 3 at the Home Depot Center in nearby Carson and is booked to tangle with Mayweather in September.
The last time De La Hoya fought at that weight happened seven years ago against Arturo Gatti and he has fought between 150 to 160 lbs since then, battling the likes of Bernard Hopkins, Felix Sturm, Shane Mosley and Mayweather in high-profile bouts.
Pacquiao stands 5-6, while De La Hoya is 5-10 with the former having a 67″ reach compared with the latter?s 73″.
De La Hoya, the lone gold medalist for the US boxing team in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, holds a win-loss-draw card of 38-5 with 30 knockouts.
While talks of a lucrative De La Hoya match is in the air once again, Roach is not looking past David Diaz, the frontrunner in landing the Pacquiao sweepstakes set June 28.
