Boxing Update: Pacquiao’s Trainer Roach Continues To Hammer Away At De La Hoya

Two-time BWAA Trainer of the Year, Freddie Roach is confident that his charge Manny Pacquiao, a five-division world champion, will not only beat “The Golden Boy”, Oscar De La Hoya, but will knock him out within nine rounds.

“Oscar is 35 and a part-time fighter; it’s obvious that father time is catching up with him,” said Roach. “Look at his face after his fight against Stevie Forbes who is a light hitter. I’ve never seen Oscar’s face look like that against opponents who were bigger, stronger and better. His stamina has decreased and he’s not the fastest learner when it comes to new things.

“Manny is Oscar’s polar opposite when it comes to those factors. Manny can flat-out fight three minutes of every round for 12 rounds and he picks up a new lesson the first time it’s shown to him. Oscar works well when he can follow a script, but he showed in his fight against Mayweather that he’s even having problems doing that.

“Our game plan was working well the first half of the fight and then he stopped. Manny not only has the discipline and the stamina to follow a script in the ring, he has also become a master at improvising. And I think that may be the difference in this fight.

“The career cycle of any athlete is finite. Good habits and good genes can postpone20the erosion of an athlete’s talents, but eventually the inevitable catches up with even the best of them. The cruelest examples in professional sports are in boxing. Boxing is a young man’s game and it’s dangerous to overstay your welcome.

“You don’t have to look any further than these four examples: Rocky Marciano ending Joe Louis’ career, Larry Holmes ending Muhammad Ali’s career, Terry Norris ending Sugar Ray Leonard’s career and Oscar De La Hoya ending Julio Cesar Chavez’s career. Sure they may have fought on after their losses, but their careers as elite fighters were over.

“Next week, the shoe is going to be on the other foot and Oscar is going to find out first-hand how Julio Cesar Chavez felt the night he lost to Oscar the first time, June 7, 1996.”