Oscar De La Hoya Trains for Manny Pacquiao
The Golden Boy In Camp With Nacho Beristain and Angelo Dundee
Nov 15, 2008
"It's great having those men, those legends, in my training camp," beamed De La Hoya. "Nacho is a great trainer and he obviously knows how Pacquiao fights, Angelo trained Ali and (Sugar Ray) Leonard and he's so inspirational being here."
The inclusion of Beristain for the December 6 fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas is, on it's face, a smart move. After all, Beristain, as Juan Manuel Marquez's trainer, has been in the corner opposite of Pacquiao and his trainer Freddie Roach twice. Results have been mixed as Marquez suffered three knockdowns in the first round of their first fight. He out-boxed the Pacman the rest of the way and earned himself a draw.
In the second go-round with Pacquiao, Marquez still managed to out-box him (barely, Pacquiao had improved his skills) but once again got dropped in the fight--a two-point round that made the difference on the scorecards.
Rob Garcia on Oscar de la Hoya's Conditioning
Those fights were at featherweight and super featherweight, respectively. Can Pacquiao produce a knockdown 20 pounds north of his featherweight fights if he needs one? Rob Garcia, De la Hoya's conditioning coach, doesn't think so.
"As Manny moves up he will lose speed, and he's moving up twenty pounds from featherweight. He's improved as a boxer, Freddie Roach has done great work with him, but Oscar has been a great boxer his whole life.
"He (De La Hoya) is already at 146, an easy 146, and his resting heart rate is 35 beats-per-minute. A marathoner's is usually around 40 or 45."
Being in shape has never been an issue with De La Hoya (okay, maybe it was an issue in his middleweight bout with Felix Sturm) but running out of gas has. Speculation had been that it was a psychological issue, not physical. De la Hoya agrees.
"Finally, I've learned to relax. In the Stevie Forbes fight (last Spring) I was able to go twelve rounds and felt good the whole time. I could have gone fifteen."
Angelo Dundee on Oscar de la Hoya
Dundee is always willing to talk boxing. "It's the only thing I know," he quips, with typical humility, and he's equally willing to talk about De La Hoya.
"I love his attitude. He works so hard, trains so hard, and he enjoys it. He's in shape to fight, not just in shape," he says, pointing to his head. "He isn't taking this kid lightly. It's going to be a tough fight and Oscar knows it, but he's ready for that and he loves it, he relishes it.
When Ali fought Spinks the first time, he took the kid lightly and got beat. I kept telling him but he wouldn't listen. Let me tell you, he was ready to fight the next time. Oscar's mentally ready for this kid."
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