By Ronnie Nathanielsz

CELEBRATED trainer Freddie Roach wants ring idol Manny Pacquiao to fight Oscar “Golden Boy” de la Hoya, instead of either Humberto Soto or World Boxing Association super featherweight champion Edwin Valero.

In a thee-way telephone conversation with Dennis Principe and this writer on the dzSR sports radio show “Sports Chat,” Roach said he didn’t’ think either the Soto or the Valero fights are big enough.

Roach noted that De la Hoya is looking for a fight and he would love to fight Pacquiao at 147 pounds.

Pacman can KO Oscar

The trainer said he would ask Top Rank promoter Bob Arum to start negotiating for a De la Hoya fight. “At this point in his career, Manny Pacquiao can knock Oscar de la Hoya out.”

Roach said a December fight date would be fine and better than November because Pacquiao’s right hand was a little swollen after the David Diaz fight, and he would like it to heal completely.

“If Pacquiao fights De la Hoya, we would need a longer training camp just to work on the styles on how to beat him. De la Hoya is the bigger guy, he does have a good left hook, but he’s not the same Oscar of a few years ago.”

Roach revealed he had spoken to some people and they told him De la Hoya can make 147 (pounds), but the trainer said he wouldn’t let Pacquiao fight the Golden Boy over that weight.

Weight matters

“I will make sure that Pacquiao weighs 145 pounds at fight time, so he will have the power and the speed,” said Roach, who also revealed he had spoken to the Filipino champion about the De la Hoya fight, and Pacquiao told him: “I’d love to fight Oscar and Oscar has publicly said, this is a big big fight.”

Roach believes that De la Hoya is probably upset with Pacquiao on the controversy over who he signed with—Golden Boy or Top Rank—and the court settlement that happened. “Oscar seems a little bitter about that.”

Roach noted that when he trained De la Hoya for the fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr., “he had trouble pulling the trigger. He’s quite slower, and if Steve Forbes can hit him as easily as he did, I know Pacquiao will knock him out.”

Roach said he doesn’t want Pacquiao to come in too heavy.

“I want him at 145, which is exactly what I wanted for the last fight against Diaz. We do need the speed because Manny has the power, for sure.”

Huge fight

Asked by Viva Sports/Standard Today whether the boxing market would be able to stand having to pay the two fighters a lot of money against the backdrop of an economic crisis in the US and the disappointing attendance figures and pay-per-view buys in recent fights, Roach was confident it could happen with a major promotional effort.

He said with a 24/7 pre-fight countdown that HBO produced for the De la Hoya-Mayweather fight, it will be huge.

“Manny has a hell of a story in the Philippines and a lot of Americans are interested. I’ll never take a fight if I didn’t know my guy could win. The money is secondary. A win is the most imporant thing. If Manny fights in the US in December and next year, he fights [British champion Ricky] Hatton, then he can be president of the Philippines after that.”

Win over Diaz was turning point

Roach said he was convinced by Pacquiao’s impressive performance against Diaz that he could take on De la Hoya.