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10/05/2008 Archived Entry: "De La Hoya vs. Pacquiao Press Conference Touches Down at Space Center Houston"
De La Hoya vs. Pacquiao Press Conference Touches Down at Space Center Houston
By Karl Hegman
Photos by Kevin Keane
Oscar De La Hoya (left) and Manny Pacquiao pose for guests at Houston's Space Center
HOUSTON, Tex. – In the glitziest of all hi-tech press conferences possible, Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao landed in the Space City on Friday, October 3rd to announce their December 6th fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to the members of the Houston media. Houston was the third stopover for the pair in a six city tour for the promotion of "The Dream Match" in the first ever press conference held at Space center Houston.
After a lengthy video presentation of both fighters respective careers, they were introduced along with a prop "Astronaut" and then CEO of Golden Boy Promotions Richard Schaefer presented a long line of sponsors and their spokespersons before handing over the dais to the always loquacious president of Top Rank Promotions, Bob Arum.
Arum pitched not only his fighter and his fighters' warrior ancestors, but Las Vegas very hard as well, urging the media to fly over to "Sin City" and catch the action in person or at closed circuit locations on The Strip.
Left to right: Manny Pacquiao, Bob Arum, Freddy Roach, and an unidentified participant in the presser
Arum pointed out that Oscar doesn't fight often and has not fought at welterweight in eight years, and took the fight after Freddie Roach assured him that Manny could take "The Golden Boy" after Roach mulled and analyzed the fight for several days.
"Manny is the greatest Filipino fighter ever, and come December 6th he is going to beat Oscar with his superior speed,” Arum said. “The name of the game is speed, speed, and more speed!"
The always nice guy trainer Freddie Roach made a couple of statements saying that Manny will win the fight and surprise Oscar with his southpaw style and will outbox him, and then Arum pointed out that nobody knows Oscar better than Freddie Roach as Roach trained De La Hoya for the Floyd Mayweather fight.
Arum closed out his speech by saying that "Filipino women are the most beautiful women on earth fellas, and there are going to be a lot of single women there to see Manny fight, and afterwards they are going to be at the clubs in the great hotels there, so don't miss out!"
That got a rise of laughter and hand clapping from the crowd at the packed theater.
Richard Schaefer began by saying that "We are going to disagree with Bob on one important statement that he made regarding women and that is, that Mexican women are the most beautiful women on earth!" This got another round of laughter, and then Oscar jumped in with "No, Puerto Rican women are!" as his wife is from Puerto Rico.
Schaefer then said that this fight pits the best pound for pound fighter in the world in Manny Pacquiao against the most famous fighter in the world in Oscar De La Hoya and that both men are certain future Hall of Famers.
Manny Pacquiao, dressed in a jacket and jeans, was polite and gracious as usual, and it was evident that he has spent a lot of time doing his English homework as he stated that he was going to be ready and wanted to "Go to the Moon!" after winning the fight. He said that he wanted to win the fight not only for his family and himself, but for his country as well. You just can't help but like this guy and want to root for him.
De La Hoya's trainer for this fight, Ignacio "Nacho" Beristain (right) with Kevin Keane
De La Hoya looked really sharp in an Armani suit and tie replete with Gucci shoes, and briefly stated that he wanted to fight the best fighter in the world, and that fighter is Manny Pacquiao. He said that he has regained his passion for fighting, will be in the best shape possible and is returning to Big Bear to train with the legendary Ignacio "Nacho" Beristain of Mexico.
I asked Freddie Roach later that if Manny will have the same hand speed at 147 as he did at 135. He said, "He was 146 1/2 in the ring for the David Diaz fight, so the hand speed will be the same."
I asked him if coming down this much in weight will hurt Oscar and weaken him. "Oscar already looks real light, and there's still two months to go. He hasn't made this weight in eight years, so it will definitely hurt him."
Freddy Roach (left) with Karl Hegman
I asked Roach if Manny was going to slide to his right jabbing and double jabbing, and then shift over to the left and wing the left hand when he saw an opening and Roach laughingly replied, "Man, you're going to give away my strategy!" and then posed photographer Kevin Keane and me.
I was able to get some free time with Manny and asked him if he thought winning this fight would make him even greater than fellow Filipino idols Gabriel "Flash" Elorde and Pancho Villa. He responded, “They were great Champions, I don't like to compare who was better as they are immortals."
Manny Pacquiao at center with CBZ'ers Karl Hegman and Kevin Keane
I asked him if he thought Oscar would still be strong in there and he said that he did, and if he was going to roll the dice and go for the knockout if he shook Oscar and he said "Of Course!" and that he thought he had the power to put Oscar on ice.
"Houston, we have lift-off!"
Boxing luminaries in attendance were: Exciting jr. lightweight contender Rocky Juarez, lightweight title claimant Juan "Baby Bull" Diaz, former jr. welterweight contender "Termite" Watkins, and super middleweight Jeff "Left Hook" Lacy.
Don't miss "The Dream Match!" on December 6th!
Former World Lightweight Champion Juan Diaz (right) with former number one ranked Junior Welterweight "Termite" Watkins, the head coach of the 2004 Iraqui Boxing Team
