Fight week begins in Hollywood, California?s Wild Card Gym, and Manny Pacquiao is making final preparations for his impending showdown with Oscar De La Hoya. ?We?re in the top [shape] right now, and in 100% condition,? declares Manny. ?And I think we?re ready to do battle on December 6th.?
Pacquiao?s words are confidently echoed by his trainer Freddie Roach, who notes that ?He?s in that fight mode; he?s ready to fight.? Roach indicates that since Pacquiao is rather tired of/bored with training, he?s going through his paces in light fashion in order to maintain his form and timing. Before the team travels to Las Vegas Monday evening, Pacquiao?s weight is down to 141 pounds, and he?s appears honed to a razor?s edge.
With his student?s work having been completed, Freddie Roach returns home and packs his gear for one more journey into the unknown. As always during his two decades plus as a trainer, Roach has done everything that he can; the rest is up to Manny Pacquiao.
At Camp Pacquiao, we finally learn which of Manny?s ?Dirty Dozen? compadres have succeeded in his weight loss for bucks challenge. All told, the obviously well motivated group has dropped poundage sufficient to cost Pacquiao $74,000, which he gleefully dispenses to the winners. Nice to have money.
Back at the Summit Gym, 35 year old Oscar De La Hoya waxes reflective on his 16 year, 45 fight career as a professional fighter. ?I think everything has happened for a reason in my life?, says the Golden Boy. ?Coming back to Big Bear really reminds me of those times when I started my career as a professional, and I was grinding and working extra hard. I got up and I feel it?I feel it. Those memories coming back, you know this where it started, and this is where it?s gonna end?.
De La Hoya further contemplates his future between the ropes, wistfully suggesting that he would like to fight until age 40 ?If I can. If my body allows it, if my mind wants to.? ?Why not? Inquires Oscar, Boxing is my passion.?
Oscar begins Monday with a rather intense training session in Pasadena?s Pro Boxing Gym, scheduled in time with some business The Golden Boy had in Los Angeles. Like his opponent, De La Hoya claims to be in tip top form. ?We are ready?, he pronounces, ?Ready to fight and rumble, and ready to box, ready to anything we want to do inside that ring.?
When De La Hoya is through sweating, he heads to the Staple Center, and is honored with a Rocky Balboa-esque statue outside the premises, for his charitable efforts in the Los Angeles area, and thereafter jets his way to Las Vegas accompanied by his family.
Conversely, Manny Pacquiao decides that traveling the 230 miles from training camp to Vegas is best realized by chartered bus. This allows Pacman easy access to his entire troop should he desire as much, although the journey gets underway with nary a word passed between anyone on board, and one suspects that camaraderie is the furthest thing from his mind.
When Pacquiao?s caravan reaches Las Vegas, we note that Manny and his wife Jinkee are traveling sans entourage in their own SUV. On arrival at his new digs, Pacquiao does a quick meet and greet with the Filipino press in the hotel?s parking garage before departing.
Wary of losing focus, both camps begin Tuesday with some roadwork; surprisingly, both teams show up just minutes apart from each other at the UNLV campus track. Freddie Roach?s terse ?What?s up guys?? is purposefully ignored by any opposition within earshot, and the scrappy trainer mutters ?He must be scared.? as De La Hoya himself jogs by. An undoubtedly awkward moment, but there is assumedly enough room at the site for all concerned parties.
Sometime later, Manny Pacquiao leaves team De La Hoya trackside, and dons a suit and tie for a press appearance at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. Pacman is mobbed by throngs of photographers and reporters, all undoubtedly asking various permutations of the same half dozen questions, but proves his mettle sans boxing gloves throughout the experience.
One plus for Manny is the quiet yet strong presence of his wife Jinkee, which gives boxing?s pound for pound best ?determination and inspiration?.
The other person of greatest significance for Pacquiao is unquestionably Freddie Roach, who after seven years and eighteen bouts together has become, in Pacquiao?s own words, ??like my brother, like my father.? Adds Manny, ?I cannot fight without Freddie Roach in my corner.? Theirs is one of boxing?s closest fighter/trainer relationships, born of trust, affection, familiarity?.and success.
Oscar De La Hoya makes his official arrival at the MGM Grand Hotel, where his team is rejoined by a smiling Angelo Dundee. Team Oscar poses for myriad photos in this, Oscar?s 27th trip to Vegas as a professional boxer.
Tuesday evening finds De La Hoya at the IBA Boxing Club; mercifully, there are no further impromptu run-ins with Manny Pacquiao et al (who had been at the gym earlier), and Oscar promptly gets down to business. De La Hoya purposefully works the mitts and is admonished to ?throw a hook, then uppercut? by head trainer Nacho Beristain. Angelo Dundee likes what he sees in Oscar. ?The jab?s working, the right?s working, everything?s working good,? avers Dundee, ?He?s ready to fight.?
Pacquiao and De La Hoya engage in a final press conference Wednesday at the MGM Grand. Both men are respectful, and say exactly what is expected; De La Hoya speaks of being highly motivated by Pacquiaos? ?speed, skill, power and relentlessness?, while Pacquiao will do his best for his country and boxing fans. De La Hoya wants to fight hard and take away Pacquiao?s heart; Pacquiao to ?do everything that I can do in the ring? in this, the most important fight of his life. All press worthy stuff, but not unexpectedly, no new ground is broken.
It is Freddie Roach who thereafter puts things in perspective, stating that ?Now all the talking?s ended, the fight?s here. Now it?s a boxing match, and the best man wins.?
Two men, one goal. Who wants it more, and to what extent if any, will Oscar De La Hoya?s combination of age, natural size advantage and experience trump Manny Pacquiao?s youth, speed and power? Stay tuned.
