Freddie Roach is starting to play mind games on Oscar De La Hoya, who faces his fair-haired boy Manny Pacquiao on Dec. 6 in Las Vegas.
Roach said he will not allow Pacquiao to fight De La Hoya in the event the Golden Boy tips the scales over the agreed welterweight limit of 147 lbs during the official weighin on the eve of the bout.
“If De La Hoya comes in at 150, I?ll say ?No fight?,” Roach told ace boxing writer Ron Borges yesterday during a break in training at the ever-busy Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood.
“I wouldn?t put it past him to try something like buying his way to 150 but three pounds over is a huge difference. When he (De La Hoya) fought (Steve) Forbes (last May), he was supposed to make 150 and he came in at 151 and they gave it to him. I am not doing that. A contract is a contract. The contract weight is 147. Make it. I want him to work as much as possible.”
Under the contract that Pacquiao and De La Hoya signed, every pound in excess of 147 for De La Hoya will cost him $ 3 million.
While Pacquiao?s instinct will drive him to accept the fight even if De La Hoya fails to meet the agreed weight, Roach said he will try everything to persuade him not to go on, citing that part of his job is to look after his boxer?s safety.
Roach has been calling the shots in Pacquiao?s corner since mid-2001 and the 48-year-old native of Dedham, Massachusetts, is entitled to a ten percent cut on the gross of Pacquiao?s purse. Roach has been quoted as saying that he is not after his share and is even willing to pass up on his percentage if Pacquiao loses.
Pacquiao is already guaranteed a hefty paycheck of $ 12 million to $ 15 million and he stands to earn much more after all receipts are counted from the pay-per-view and closed-circuit stations that will be put up in the Las Vegas area apart from the sale of the Philippine broadcast rights of the fight.
De La Hoya, who turns 36 in February next year, has fought mostly at super-welter (154 lbs) and middleweight (160 lbs) in the last seven years after making his professional debut at lightweight in 1992 after winning America?s only boxing gold medal from the Barcelona Olympics.
