By T.K. Stewart

The consensus among several observers in the sport is that Nacho Beristain likely overdid the training regimen for Oscar De La Hoya, leading to the Golden Boy's demise against Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas this past Saturday.

While none took anything away from Pacquiao's brilliant performance, signs they saw pointed to the fact that De La Hoya, who scaled lighter than he had in a decade, likely left his fight in the mountains of Big Bear, California.

As a result, the 'Dream Match' turned into a nightmare for the thirty-five year old De La Hoya as he suffered a shocking and humiliating beat-down over eight rounds in a bout that he was favored to win.

Author Adam Pollack, who has written books on John L. Sullivan, James J. Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons, noted that, "Based on the performance, and which Roach accurately predicted before the fight, was that Oscar would be weight drained. He looked like an over-trained fighter in there. A guy who left it all in the gym. The fact that at age 35 he was not only at his lowest weight in 12 years, but that he was at fight weight a week or so before - way too soon, and only gained 2 pounds a full day after weighing in, tells me that he had over-trained. Roach knew it too."

Beristain is known as a stern taskmaster when it comes to working the fighters that he trains. The most recent example of Beristain's work is with the Marquez brothers, Juan Manuel and Rafael. Both are always in tip-top condition, but they are active fighters that Beristain has worked with for years.

As a result, Beristain knows them well and knows their limits. With De La Hoya, Beristain was plowing new ground with a relatively inactive fighter and he had no baseline from which to develop a training regimen for De La Hoya.

Ron Lipton, best known as a former world class referee and for his past relationships with Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Dick Tiger, Joey Giardello, Carlos Ortiz and Muhammad Ali, among others, also saw a De La Hoya that he perceived to be over-trained.

Lipton has a wealth of precision knowledge after a lifetime spent in the fight game.  He was a once celebrated amateur fighter who scored 38 knockouts in 39 wins and he now trains fighters at Snoop's Gym in Poughkeepsie, New York. Lipton has taught boxing instructional classes at Marist College in Upstate New York and could be classified as a physical fitness expert. When Beristain's training methods of De La Hoya were broached, Lipton pulled no punches with his assessment.

"In addition to Pac-man's great performance, Oscar was drained as if by a vampire," said Lipton. "When I train my guys very hard, it is only if they can take it and recover, and this you can see day by day.

"He had nothing and should have eaten better after the weigh in," said Lipton of De La Hoya. "The trainers there just did a lot of the same old stuff and never made his body become stronger, only weaker."

"I mean no disrespect, but I saw them doing the same old stuff. It's a 35 year-old guy who has been losing, he has to have a new program to supplement his skills, which are still there. I hope he doesn't go out of the game on this kind of note if it was just a case of being over-trained."

Mike DeLisa, who is the co-author of 'Philadelphia's Boxing Heritage 1876-1976' and the author of 'The Cinderella Man: The James J. Braddock Story' as well as the founder and co-publisher of the web-site cyberboxingzone, has been a longtime observer of the sport. He made his thoughts known on what could have been Oscar's problem on Saturday night.

"In 24/7, Angelo Dundee said: 'I hope he doesn't leave it all in the gym.' Angelo obviously saw something he didn't like," notes DeLisa, referring to the four part documentary series televised by HBO that gave a behind the scenes look at the De La Hoya and Pacquiao training camps leading up to the fight.

"Over-training is a boxer's worst enemy, especially an aging boxer," continued DeLisa. Oscar simply over-trained. I have spoken to many fighters who, even years after a bout, talk about the horror of being in the ring and unable to throw a punch. Oscar's trainer should take all the blame."

Frank Baltazar, who was inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame in 2007 for his stellar work as a trainer for his sons, world class fighters Tony and Frankie Baltazar, Jr., saw De La Hoya's performance a little differently than the others.

"The simple answer is that he just couldn't (get his punches off). That happens to fighters when they get old," remarked Baltazar of the De La Hoya he saw on Saturday night.

"They see the openings, but they just can't pull the trigger, their reflexes are gone, and when that happens its time for the fighter to hang up the gloves."

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