If Oscar De la Hoya beats Manny Pacquiao to a pulp, then blame it on American trainer Freddie Roach and legendary Argentine cutman Miguel Diaz.
As if Roach?s famous “can?t-pull-the-trigger” remark was not enough to make De La Hoya furious, Diaz described the Golden Boy recently as “viene gastado” (spent).
That?s a double whammy.
“De La Hoya viene gastado (De La Hoya is spent),” Diaz, who is being tapped by Team Pacquiao, told ESPN Deportes recently when asked about his thoughts about the much-awaited 12-round welterweight bout on Dec. 6 in Las Vegas.
“Of course Pacquiao will win over Oscar,” said the 70-year-old Diaz, who has worked the corners of more than 40 world champions either as trainer or cutman.
“Manny has shown that he didn?t lose power when moving up in weight. His speed will be decisive because Oscar will not be able to adjust to it. Pacquiao is exceptional,” said Diaz, who had been in the corners of Floyd Mayweather Jr., Erik Morales, Miguel Cotto, Jorge Arce, Kelly Pavlik, Jose Luis Castillo, (the late) Diego Corrales, Cesar Soto, Fred Norwood, Oscar Larios, James Toney, Hasim Rahman, Israel Vazquez, Ulises Solis, Tony Tubbs and even Filipino Bobby Berna.
Diaz has worked 200 world title fights and was in the country in July 2006 when Larios lost to Pacquiao on points at the Araneta Coliseum but will now be in the Filipino?s corner, which will be manned by Roach with Buboy Fernandez and conditioning coach Alex Ariza providing assistance.
Diaz?s expertise will only be called in should Pacquiao gets a cut although the Buenos Aires-bred corner man will come in armed to the teeth.
“Working on a cut involves a lot of responsibility,” said Diaz. “Because a boxer can lose a fight if you don?t know how to treat a cut.”
A veteran of 27 amateur fights, Diaz came to the US in the mid-1960s and had odd jobs before finding his place in the sun.
In 1999, the Boxing Writers Association of American voted Diaz as Trainer of the Year.
Diaz was called in to fill the void left by Joe Chavez, who will be in De La Hoya?s corner. Chavez had worked Pacquiao?s corner the last several fights after taking over from Lenny De Jesus, who, in turn, assumed the role from Ruben Gomez.
Top Rank head Bob Arum said Diaz will drop by the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood this week to eavesdrop on Pacquiao?s training.
