Roach: Manny can KO Oscar!

Really?

Fightnews:

July 17, 2008

By Dennis Principe


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With all the hullabaloo surrounding the saleability of Manny Pacquiao‘s next foe, trainer Freddie Roach now earnestly wants the most marketable fight for the Filipino icon. Oscar De La Hoya.

In an interview with Sports Radio’s “Sports Chat” Thursday morning (Manila time) not only did Roach believes a fight with Dela Hoya will be huge, promotional wise. The hall-of-fame American trainer even daringly said Pacquiao is capable of knocking De La Hoya out.

“When I trained Oscar he was just having trouble pulling the trigger and he’s a little bit slow. If Stevie Forbes can hit him as easily as he did, I know Pacquiao will knock him out,“ said Roach in the daily morning Philippine radio show. “I know my guy. The thing is I would never take a fight that I didn’t know my guy could win. I would never do that.”

De La Hoya publicly stated he will be fighting for the last time this December although he is still searching for an opponent. The 35-year-old superstar fought last May in Carson, California where he scored a 12-round decision win over longtime welterweight campaigner Steve Forbes. The non-title bout was set at 154.

De La Hoya’s negotiations with one-time tormentor Felix Trinidad fell through according to Roach, a development the American trainer believes opens up a possible De La Hoya-Pacquiao showdown.

Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum recently said he will stage Pacquiao’s world lightweight title defense against Mexican Humberto Soto who dealt Pacquiao’s kid brother Bobby a painful 7th round knockout about a year ago in New York.

Venezuelan knockout artist Edwin Valero was also considered but his medical issue with every state in the United States except for Texas shot down the match.

“I think Bob is a real smart guy and he’ll come up with something. December is a better date than November because Manny’s right hand is a little sore and I’d like to let that heal completely,” said Roach “We need a long training camp just to work on the styles of how to beat him because he is a bigger guy but he does have trouble pulling the trigger now. He is not the same Oscar 10 years ago.”

Roach said he’s be asking around and learned that De La Hoya can fight at 147-lbs if a real worthy opponent is available at that weight.

“I want Manny to weigh-in 140 pounds and then at fight time he’ll be at 145 he’ll have his power and speed. I just don’t see Oscar handling Manny at this point of their careers,“ revealed Roach “Manny told me he’d love to fight Oscar and Oscar has made it public he’d love to fight Manny and I think it’s a big, big fight.”

Pacquiao, who will turn 30 this December, crowned himself four-division champion when he stopped Mexican-American David Diaz inside eight rounds last month to capture the World Boxing Council (WBC) lightweight crown. In that fight Roach stated his delight in seeing his prized ward use his right hand in spectacular fashion.

“That performance is really what sets me to make that decision (to challenge De La Hoya). Because I’ve been working on Manny’s right hand for a long time. Sometimes it was there a little bit, against (Juan Manuel) Marquez it wasn’t there too much,” added Roach.

Another issue which according to Roach will create more interest about a De La Hoya-Pacquiao fight was the fact that the Filipino fighter, after signing a promotional deal with Dela Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, eventually hooked up with Arum’s Top Rank, Inc.

“Oscar is probably upset because Manny’s controversy about who he signed with, Golden Boy or Top Rank and the court settlement that happened so Oscar seems to be a little bitter about that,” said Roach.