VETERAN TRAINER SAYS DE LA HOYA TOO BIG FOR PACQUIAO
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 22 Jul 2008
Veteran trainer Hector Roca says Oscar De La Hoya is ?too big and too heavy? for Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao even though he conceded Pacquiao has ?tremendous power in both hands and has improved a lot. No question about it.?
Roca who trains Rafael ?El Torito? Concepcion, the 26 year old Panamanian who battles AJ ?Bazooka? Banal for the WBA super flyweight title at the Cebu Coliseum on Saturday should know since he trained former world champion Arturo Gatti who fought De La Hoya and the late Agapito Sanchez who engaged Pacquiao in a bloody braw in a super bantamweight unification bout.
Roca told www.insidesports.ph during Concepcion ?s workout at the ?Fight Club? in the Banilad Town Center last Monday that De La Hoya made the 147 pound limit for the clash with Gatti ?but on the night of the fight on March 24, 2001 De La Hoya was like 170 and Artuto (Gatti) didn?t put on weight.? Roca said he had to ask referee Jay Nady to stop the fight in the 5th round.
Roca warned the same thing could happen to Pacquiao if he comes in at 145 pounds on fight night as celebrated trainer Freddie Roach planned in order to maintain his speed. Roca predicted De La Hoya would probably weigh around 160-165 and stressed ?The Golden Boy? is ?gonna be a big guy. ?
Recalling the Pacquiao-Sanchez fight on Noveber 10, 2001 which ended in a draw after six rounds when the ring physician asked referee Marty Denkin to stop the fight since Pacquiao was badly cut from head-butts and elbows and suffered several low blows plus a takedown that almost wrecked his left leg, Roca said Pacquiao ?looked very small? pointing to his little finger.
He said Sanchez besides being rough and tough was solidly built and Roca figured ?we are going to kill this guy? but Pacquiao proved him wrong. ?Pacquiao has a lot of heart and now he is very good? added Roca.
He claimed that Concepcion was like Pacquiao with a big, fighting heart and ?power in both hands.?: The veteran trainer revealed that Concepcion?s wife Ellen had just given birth to a baby girl who was named Allison and this served as added motivation for Concepcion.
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