Saturday, August 16, 2008 Pacman, Golden Boy a standing deal: Roach
WORLD renowned trainer Freddie Roach believes that the mega fight between six division world champion “Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya and Filipino ring icon Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao on Dec. 6 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas can still be revived.
Roach talked to Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz and both agreed that the De La Hoya-Pacquiao dream battle may still happen.
Because Roach is so confident that the pound-for-pound king can defeat the legendary De La Hoya, he won’t ask for a single dollar if Pacquiao would lose.
Keep the money
“You know what, I talked to Michael Koncz and I told him, you know what if Manny doesn’t win this fight you can keep my money. You don’t have to pay me. That’s how sure I am,” Roach told “Sports Chat” in an interview, yesterday. “The thing is some people tell me that I’m crazy, some people tell me that Manny’s too small, I don’t believe that. I honestly feel Manny can beat this guy.”
Roach feels that preparation would be the key in beating the aging De La Hoya.
“I know we have to fight a very good fight and we need to have a great training camp and great sparring partners. The whole thing is preparation. And that’s what Manny does best,” said Roach.
Deal
The famed Pacquiao trainer also thinks that the 70-30 split of the revenues that De La Hoya offered the 29-year-old Gen. Santos native is a considerable deal.
“70-30 split is not a bad deal. It doesn’t sound great for some people but it’s a better deal than Mayweather had and Mayweather made $22-million so you can‘t say it‘s a bad split,” he said.
The World Boxing Council lightweight champion recently rejected the offer of De La Hoya because he wanted the split of the revenues to be 60-40.
As of now, De La Hoya will likely be facing World Boxing Council junior middleweight titleholder Sergio Mora as his Dec. 6 opponent while Pacquiao will possibly fight his brother’s tormentor Humberto Sotto in November. (EKA)
