By Mark Vester
The words that sparked the "Dream Fight," trainer Freddie Roach telling reporters that Oscar De La Hoya could no longer "pull the trigger." De La Hoya was furious over those comments, and wanted revenge on Roach's star pupil, Manny Pacquiao. When they met in the ring at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Pacquiao handed De La Hoya a brutal beating before the fight was stopped after eight rounds.
After De La Hoya was humbled in the ring by the smaller man who moved up by two weight divisions, Oscar turned to Roach and let the trainer know that he was right.
"Freddie, you're right. I just don't have it anymore," De La Hoya said.
Roach said that after Pacquiao's quicker hands set the pace of the fight in the first round, he knew his fighter was going to win. He could see after three minutes that De La Hoya was an old, shot fighter who no longer had the strength to win.
"We knew we had him after the first round," Roach said. "He had no legs, he was hesitant and he was shot."
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