Oscar De La Hoya says it will be payback time when he gets in the ring with Manny Pacquiao for boxing’s biggest fight of the year on December 6.
De La Hoya is still bristling at the memory of his bid to sign Pacquiao for his Golden Boy Promotions company.
That bid resulted in a lawsuit before Golden Boy and Top Rank settled their differences, and the whole affair clearly left a sour taste in Oscar’s mouth.
At that stage he never dreamed he’d one day fight Pacquiao – then plying his trade some 24lbs lower in the weight classes.
But now he gets the chance to settle a few scores inside the ring when he locks horns with the current P4P king in the MGM Grand.
He said on a conference call: “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d fight Manny Pacquiao. That’s why this fight is called ‘The Dream Match’. When he looked into my eyes and I looked into his and we shook hands and we had a deal. He talks about honour. I never thought I would fight him. That’s also one of the reasons why this fight is so personal to me.
“That night we signed a deal and he turned his back on me. He’s going to have to pay come December 6.
“It’s very personal for me. That moment there is what makes it personal. I don’t want him to be talking about honour. He didn’t honour me that night so I’m not going to honour him come December 6.”
De La Hoya goes into the fight as a hot favourite because of his size advantage. And he’s under no illusions about what is expected of him.
“I will be extremely disappointed if this fight doesn’t end in a knockout. It will be a total disaster.”
The big clash with Pacquiao will be at welterweight, despite the fact De La Hoya hasn’t fought as low as 147lbs for eight years now.
Oscar says he’s in good shape having been at 145 for three weeks now. But he admits that he’ll still be taking a trip into the unknown on December 6.
“Coming down in weight is a big issue because I don’t know how my body is going to react on fight night.
“When you combine my coming down in weight and my issues with stamina, it can be a big problem. I’m just focusing on being able to fight 12 hard rounds.”
