By Mark Vester
Oscar De La Hoya disputes reports that he is a bigger fighter looking to pick on the smaller man. Speaking with Mark Kriegel of FoxSports.com, De La Hoya says that Pacquiao is the one who called him out. The two fighters collide on December 6 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
"He's the one who called me out, so he's picking on the bigger guy. I think the fact that I'm coming down to 147, a weight that I haven't made since I fought Arturo Gatti [in 01]. I think it's going to be a real struggle. I really do. I think it's going to affect me more by coming down than him going up," De La Hoya said.
De La Hoya says that Pacquiao's weight gain, jumping from 135 to 147, should not hurt him in the fight.
"He's fast. They say he's going to slow down a bit because he's going to gain about 10 to 12-pounds. Even a slower Manny is still fast. That's the beauty of this fight and it will be a fun fight," De La Hoya said.
De La Hoya was quick to say that despite all of the pre-fight hype, he feels no animosity to former trainer Freddie Roach. Roach, the long-time trainer of Pacquiao, prepared De La Hoya last May for his clash with Floyd Mayweather Jr. De La Hoya sees a lot of holes in Roach's training methods and plans to expose them during the Pacquiao fight.
"There is no animosity whatsoever. Freddie Roach is a great trainer. I respect him. He's a great person. I love the guy, I really do. We mutually respected each other when we were in the training camp together. He was with my family. He's a great guy. If he says I cant pull the trigger, Ok, we'll see come this December 6," De La Hoya said.
"Absolutely [there are weaknesses in his training methods]. Freddie's weaknesses - there's many. Obviously I'm not going to mention them, but there are many. I've been up close and personal with Freddie. I've trained with Freddie for several months and I'm going to expose them."
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