De La Hoya Preparing for best Manny Pacquiao: Heart, not size that matters most

CEBU - In the end, it will all boil down as to who has the bigger heart. That would be the key factor and not the physical disparity in the controversial mega-fight between the legendary Oscar De la Hoya and Filipino ring superstar Manny Pacquiao.

Amidst all the contrasting predictions and varied reactions, Golden Boy Promotions (GBP) vice president Eric Gomez said in an interview with Sportsnews.ph that no one knows what will really happen until both decorated ring gladiators finally meet inside the ring on December 6 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“At the end of the day nobody knows what’s going to happen. They still have to fight each other. These guys, you can’t measure the size of their hearts. And that’s one thing that both fighters have,” said Gomez.

Gomez was reacting to nagging insinuations that De la Hoya wants to take the easy route of going out a winner by taking on a physically smaller but marketable Pacquiao.

“Oscar’s preparing to fight the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He’s getting ready with everything in mind, I mean, he’s gonna hit me in the body, my face, anywhere so I gotta prepare for that, so stuff like that doesn’t bother him. He’s a veteran,” added Gomez.

In asserting their argument that Pacquiao deserves to rumble inside the squared circle against a much bigger fighter, Gomez likened the Filipino four-division champion to one of the greatest southpaw fighters of the sport.

“Obviously Oscar believes he is fighting one of the best southpaws in the history of boxing in Manny Pacquiao. You can put Manny’s name up there with Marvin Hagler,” said. “You’re dealing with an Oscar now that’s not in his prime. He’s still good and he can still compete at a high level but he’s not in his prime anymore.”

In De la Hoya’s entire legendary career, the Mexican-American poster boy fought one of the best southpaw champions during his time in Pernell Whitaker, a hall-fame warrior who lost a razor-thin decision to De la Hoya. Another lefty, Hector Camacho was never floored by De la Hoya but still was able to score a decisive 12-round decision win.

Gomez however said Pacquiao maybe watching the wrong tape in analyzing De la Hoya’s weaknesses by watching the Golden Boy’s clash with Whitaker.

“Those guys have very very different styles. Those guys are boxers and weren’t as aggressive as Manny is. Manny’s much much more aggressive. I’m not taking away from Whitaker who is a hall-of-famer and one of the best tacticians in boxing. Whitaker’s a defensive fighter and very good at it but he wasn‘t as aggressive as Manny is,” said Gomez.

Gomez added that De la Hoya is focused on preparing for a fighter whom he believes has the skills to humiliate him inside the ring.

“Oscar has all of Manny’s fights. Oscar’s going to expect the best possible Manny. Oscar’s throwing out that he’s too little and stuff like that, he’s throwing that out of the window,” Gomez told Sportsnews.ph. “Manny, he wants to prove that he’s the top guy and he wants to prove that he can take on any challenge and still be victorious.”

Over the weekend, Pacquiao and trainer Freddie Roach did some sort of a give away of their fight plan as the two openly did the mitts with the American trainer wearing a body pad, a rarity in previous open training sessions of the Filipino sensation.

Roach even attached a picture of De La Hoya at the center of the pad using an adhesive tape which Pacquiao willingly hit during the entire session.

“It doesn’t matter what they do in the gym. What matters is what they do that night. Oscar’s concentrating on what he’s going to do. If you start thinking of what the other guy is doing it kinda screws you up,” added Gomez.

Pacquiao is currently training at the Wild Card Gym under trainer Freddie Roach while De la Hoya prefers to do it in the mountains of Big Bear in California with famed Mexican trainer Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain in tow. (THE FREEMAN)