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New York — Oscar De La Hoya wants to fight at least a couple of more times after taking on Filipino hero Manny Pacquiao on Dec. 6 in Las Vegas, in what is sure to be the biggest fight of the year.
“There’s no doubt about it. My mind can still do it, my body can still do it,” De La Hoya said on Wednesday, shading his eyes in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. “I’m going to ride the wave for a little while.”
Kicking off a six-city media tour at the base of the Statue of Liberty was an appropriate setting, considering the millions of people who have looked up to Lady Liberty as a symbol of hope, prosperity and the free enterprise system. De La Hoya, the son of Mexican immigrants, is a symbol of the American Dream—at least, it says so in his recently released autobiography, "American Son."
Perhaps stung by the disappointment of his narrow loss to Floyd Mayweather last year, De La Hoya announced he would retire after this year and focus on his many business interests. But almost immediately he had reservations, especially when it seemed that every new champion from welterweight on up wanted a crack at him.
The 10-time champion will be coming down to 147 pounds (67 kilograms) for the first time since beating Arturo Gatti more than eight years ago.
Accustomed to being the smaller fighter, for once it was De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs) who towered over his opponent when they stood face-to-face on a platform with the skyline of lower Manhattan in the background.
Pacquiao (47-3-2, 35 KOs), considered the current pound-for-pound king, is only six months removed from fighting Juan Manuel Marquez at 130 pounds (59 kilograms). But the 5-foot-6 (1.68-meter) southpaw didn’t have a problem carrying his speed to lightweight when he knocked out David Diaz in June, and thinks he’ll be even stronger at welterweight.
Not for money
“Some people are criticizing Oscar for picking on a small guy like me. Some people say I’m picking this fight for the money,” Pacquiao said. “I’m going to prove everyone wrong.”
They’ll both make plenty of money, though.
Tickets for the bout sold out in a matter of hours, guaranteeing the second-largest gate in boxing history. Golden Boy chief executive Richard Schaefer said ticket revenue will be nearly $17 million , second only to De La Hoya-Mayweather, and about 33,000 tickets are going to be offered for fans to see the fight on closed-circuit TV around Las Vegas.
Then there’s the pay-per-view take. De La Hoya-Mayweather smashed records with $2.4 million buys and $134.4 million in revenue, helped along by the TV reality show that chronicled both fighters in their lead-up to the bout. HBO is filming another four-episode series to boost the De La Hoya-Pacquiao showdown.
And there should be plenty of intriguing story lines.
Pacquiao’s longtime trainer is Freddie Roach, who also prepared De La Hoya for his bout against Mayweather. The Golden Boy said that intimate knowledge concerns him, and Roach confided that he saw something in the later rounds against Mayweather that Pacquiao can use to his advantage.
“I learned a lot during that nine-week period and now I’m going to use it against him,” Roach said. “Can he still pull the trigger? We’ll see.” /AP
