By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Filipino ring idol and national treasure Manny Pacquiao knows he has to dig deep down within himself to have a chance to beat “The Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya in their December 6 “Dream Match” at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas , otherwise his dream could turn into a nightmare.
With the façade of politeness and smiles during their historic six-city pre-fight promotional tour that hid the bitterness underneath over, Pacquiao and De La Hoya began the long grind to get into the best shape possible for their epic showdown.
Pacquiao dutifully reported to the Wild Card Gym of celebrated trainer Freddie Roach to begin his preparation in an effort to dismantle the height, reach and size advantages of De La Hoya while De La Hoya moved to his Big Bear training camp.
Pacquiao who is at least five or six pounds over the stipulated weight limit of 147 pounds appears to carry his additional poundage with aplomb which reinforces an earlier statement that he would remain above the lightweight class of which he is the World Boxing Council champion and thereby effectively deny Juan Manuel Marquez the privilege of one more crack at the Filipino southpaw at 135 pounds after the Mexican won the WBO title beating Nate Campbell.
Lawyer Franklin “Jeng” Gacal told insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports that De La Hoya’s prediction that he would win by knockout only served to “make Manny more determined than ever” to train hard and to win.
Pacquiao has a reputation of “killing himself in the gym” as Roach has often pointed out and on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) , he went through a full routine including ten rounds on the punch-mitts which at times showed his blistering hand speed and awesome punching power prompting Roach to proclaim “ I can feel the power.”
It was observed that for the first time since he began training Pacquiao shortly before his smashing US debut in the IBF super bantamweight title fight in which he annihilated Lelhonolo Ledwaba, which was on the undercard of De La Hoya’s title fight against Javier Castillejo in June 2001, Roach donned a protective guard on his body to prevent being hurt by a wayward Pacquiao punch.
Conditioning expert Alex Ariza who did an amazing job with Pacquiao in preparation for the WBC lightweight title fight against David Diaz whom he demolished in nine rounds was also around to work with Pacquiao.
Filipino trainers Buboy Fernandez, Pacquiao’s childhood friend from their hometown of General Santos City and soft-spoken Nonoy Neri helped out as Pacquiao ripped into the heavy bag and later the speed ball.
In a sense now that the gloves are off following a highly successful whirlwind promotional tour, Roach has confirmed in a conversation with Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times that “there is some bad blood, that’s why Oscar wants to fight Manny” adding that Pacquiao “doesn’t like Oscar either.”
Referring to the legal action that De La Hoya took after Pacquiao first signed with Golden Boy Promotions and then switched and penned a promotional agreement with the astute Bob Arum of Top Rank, Roach ventured the opinion that in the Philippines “it’s a slap in the face to be sued.”
Pugmire said De La Hoya told him that he harbors bad feelings about Pacquiao’s decision to junk him for Arum who made a much higher bid. In fact, De La Hoya told insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports when the “Dream Match” was being finalized that “this is very personal” even as he questioned Pacquiao’s talk about honor. De La Hoya believes his honor will come on December 6.
