Oscar De La Hoya takes on all comers at media day
BILL DWYRE
The boxer meets the press -- meaning pretty much anyone with a camera -- as he prepares for his bout with the younger, harder-punching Manny Pacquiao.
There was a good omen the other day at Oscar De La Hoya's training camp. The venerable boxer stayed on his feet for more than two hours.
Not that the 35-year-old De La Hoya has spent all that much time on his back in a 16-year career of 44 fights and 39 wins. But the talk has been hot and heavy that De La Hoya's Dec. 6 opponent, the younger and harder-punching Manny Pacquiao, 29, is thinking knockout more than decision.
This, of course, is boxing at its promotional best. De La Hoya-Pacquiao is the biggest fight in the eyes of the public since De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 5, 2007. Mayweather won that one in a split decision and promptly retired, which means he will be back soon.
We went into thin air to witness firsthand how high the hype has been turned up with three weeks to go, and the scene at 8,800 feet in Big Bear, De La Hoya's training site for the first time in six years after his move to Puerto Rico, told all.
It was media day, which really meant camera day. Somehow, anybody with a camera within 40 square miles got in. If they still used film, as in the old days, Kodak could have declared an extra dividend. There was more snapping going on than in a bowl of Rice Krispies. The Internet has unlimited capacity, and if every picture snapped of De La Hoya at media day makes its way onto some website, that unlimited capacity will be exceeded.
As the posing and primping went on, ad nauseam, nuggets of news were breaking out.
De La Hoya had a shiner under his right eye and said it was the result of a Monday sparring session. "One of those thumb things," he said.
It's the same eye that he injured in his otherwise-dominating win over Stevie Forbes in his last fight, May 3 at the Home Depot Center. It's also the eye that is always the target of opponents of Pacquiao, who is so left-handed that one of his solid connections might truly be called an O-Bomb-A.
De La Hoya said he weighed 145 pounds, two below the fight weight. That was remarkable on several fronts.
He is the taller fighter, at 5 feet 10 1/2 inches, and has fought fights all the way up to 160 pounds. Pacquiao, at 5-6 1/2 , started his career at 106 in 1995, and the highest weight he has fought at was 134 in June when he beat up David Diaz and knocked him out in the ninth.
Pacquiao's camp reported earlier this week that he currently weighs 151.
"I'm the little guy now," De La Hoya said.
