By Mark Vester
Manny Pacquiao, the reigning WBC lightweight champion, knows that potential bout with Oscar De La Hoya is a dangerous one. He says De La Hoya has the size advantage, a strength advantage and a reach advantage, but he still believes that he can beat him if a deal is reached for them to fight on December 6 in Las Vegas.
“The truth is, a lot of people are saying that Oscar, the ‘Golden Boy’ of boxing, really has all the advantages in a fight. He is bigger, taller, heftier and has a longer reach. I have been thinking about fighting him and I think there is quite a good chance of beating him,” Pacquiao wrote in his column on the PhilBoxing website.
Pacquiao is 29-years-old, and says that he needs to make the proper fights to seal his legacy in the sport and that's why he wants a fight with De La Hoya. I'm sure his $20 million dollar purse demand is not going to hurt him either.
“I’m not getting any younger and I want to get the one of the biggest fights out there to cement my legacy in boxing,” Pacquiao said.
As previously posted, Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum and Richard Schaefer, CEO for Golden Boy Promotions, are scheduled to meet on Wednesday in an effort to tie up the loose ends and finalize the deal for De La Hoya-Pacquiao. The fight is not sitting well with thousands of boxing fans and reporters, who see the fight as a physical mismatch, and would rather see De La Hoya to face Antonio Margarito.
De La Hoya and his company are trying to sell the Pacquiao bout by telling the media that Oscar has a personal beef with Pacquiao and his trainer Freddie Roach and needs to teach them a lesson by punishing the much smaller Pacquiao in the ring.
"Oscar really wants to do the fight. You know Oscar," Schaefer told boxing writer Dan Rafael "He honestly feels that Freddie and Pacquiao have been disrespectful. It's [expletive] for Freddie to say that Oscar can't pull the trigger anymore. Oscar will show them how he can pull the trigger. Pacquiao is being Freddie Roach's puppet and Oscar wants to teach a lesson to them. Manny is the best fighter in the world, pound for pound, but Manny will see how Oscar pulls the trigger in the ring and Freddie can sit in the corner and watch Oscar hit him. Oscar gave me clear instructions to make the fight with Pacquiao, not to kill the fight."
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