By Mark Vester
WBO super bantamweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez, despite being a Puerto Rican fighter, admits that he grew up idolizing Oscar De La Hoya, a Mexican-American fighter. Lopez will defend his title against Sergio Medina on the undercard to De La Hoya's bout against Manny Pacquiao on December 6 in Las Vegas.
Even though he makes an appearance on the undercard, Lopez will not keep his feelings inside on the main event. He thinks the De La Hoya-Pacquiao clash is bad for boxing. He doesn't think De La Hoya should continue fighting.
"De La Hoya and Pacquiao is not a very attractive fight. A lot of people are going to see it, but I believe it's because of their curiosity. De La Hoya has reached a point where it's time to leave [boxing]. I believe that what he's doing is damaging to boxing. Maybe not to the public, but to the fighters and the people that know boxing - it's boring," Lopez said to El Nuevo Dia.
Lopez doesn't think it's a fair fight because of the size difference and says De La Hoya could have a fought a number of other fighters. He would have liked to see him rematch Felix Trinidad.
"I don't believe that De La Hoya will lose against Pacquiao. There is a big difference in height and strength. Pacquiao is a great fighter, but I don't think it's an even fight. I don't think Pacquiao is the right fight. De La Hoya could have fought with Daniel Santos, with Antonio Margarito, Winky Wright, or Tito Trinidad in a rematch. I believe the correct fight would have been against Tito Trinidad."
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