De La Hoya set to overcome Pacquiao, Roach

Oct 2, 2008 - 2:08 AM By Simon Lewis PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

NEW YORK (Ticker) - Oscar De La Hoya has insisted former trainer Freddie Roach can reveal few secrets about him to Manny Pacquiao as the fighters prepare to clash in Las Vegas on December 6.

Pound-for-pound the world's top-ranked boxer, Pacquaio (47-3-2, 35 KOs) will move up to the 147-pound welterweight division to take on 10-time, six-weight former world champion De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in nine weeks.

Pacquiao's long-time handler, Roach was in De La Hoya's corner for his May 2007 megafight at the same venue with Floyd Mayweather.

The respected trainer got the verbal sparring started on Wednesday as the two camps got together in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty to kick off a six-city promotional tour for the fight labeled "The Dream Match".

"I had the opportunity to train Oscar for the Mayweather fight," Roach said during the fight announcement news conference. "We had a great experience, we fought a good fight and I thought he should have won the fight actually.

"I learned a lot about him in that period and now I'm going to use it against him. I know his strengths and his weaknesses, I learned a lot and we're going to take advantage of his mistakes. Can he still pull the trigger? We'll see."

Roach later resumed his critique of De La Hoya, telling reporters how the Filipino would overcome the height and weight disadvantage and knock out the American.

"He doesn't know how to win fights anymore. Pacquiao will throw a lot more punches (than previous De La Hoya opponents), harder punches, faster punches," Roach said. "We will land and we will break him down.

"And you saw the last fight, he cuts up a little, that tissue is getting older. Hey, it's tough to get old, it happens to all of us."

De La Hoya, who followed his split-decision defeat to the now-retired Mayweather with a points victory over Steve Forbes a year later, admitted having Roach in the opposite corner could be a problem, but then hit back at his former trainer following the official press conference.

"It concerns me quite a bit actually," De La Hoya said. "He trained for Mayweather and although Mayweather and Pacquiao have different styles, he knows how I train. He knows the punches, he knows I'm a hard worker, there's no doubt about that.

"He knows little things here and there but he doesn't know everything and it's up to Mexico's Ignacio "Nacho" Beristain to come up with a strategy to upset Freddie and Pacquiao.

De La Hoya said there were no hard feelings toward Roach, but claimed he had sent him into the Mayweather fight with the wrong plan of attack.

"No, there's no hard feelings. Freddie Roach is a great guy, although I was a bit ticked off when he was talking his (garbage)," De La Hoya said. "I chose Freddie Roach because of his aggressive approach. He likes fighters to be aggressive but it was the incorrect strategy for Mayweather. You cannot be aggressive with Mayweather. The more aggressive you get with him the worse you're going to do.

"So that was our big mistake and I have to point out that the strategy that Freddie Roach gave me for that fight was the incorrect one."

At 29, Pacquiao may be six years younger than De La Hoya, but he is four inches shorter than his rival. In his last fight - a ninth-round TKO of David Diaz in June, De La Hoya weighed in at 134 pounds, the heaviest of his career and still 13 pounds less than he will be asked to hit the scales on December 6.

Pacquiao pledged to disprove the doubters.

"Some people are criticizing Oscar for picking on a small guy like me," Pacquiao said. "Some are saying I only took this fight for the money.

"On December 6, I will prove all my critics wrong. This is not a mismatch. On December 6, the support of the Filipino people will give me the intensity and determination I need and I will fight for the honor and the glory of my country."