INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines—Finally, it’s time to drop the toy gun, put down the microphone, and hit the gym for Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya.

A day after ending their six-city tour designed to prop up the $54.95 pay-per-view buys for their Dec. 6 fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, both boxers headed for their respective training camps to start serious training.

Boxingconfidential.com reported that the Filipino hero resumed his training at the now closed-door Wild Card Gym in Hollywood with trainer Freddie Roach assembling a formidable bunch of sparmates for Pacquiao.

It’s the Big Bear training camp for De La Hoya, who has a mountain-top cabin there. He will be guided by his third trainer in as many fights, Hall of Famer Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain.

But before the Golden Boy retreated to his high-altitude training camp, sweetscience.com reported about his homecoming when the promo tour culminated in Whittier Boulevard in East Los Angeles.

De La Hoya, according to the report, offered free tacos to the 5,000-plus predominantly Mexican-American crowd every time they shouted out his name.

De La Hoya, born to Mexican parents and product of Garfield high school, is considered East LA’s hero after winning the lightweight gold medal during the 1992 Olympics.

He is reportedly set to train for a month in Big Bear before moving to yet another mountain-top camp in Puerto Rico where De La Hoya is presently residing.

Internet reports said Pacquiao will be working out against Brit welterweight Amir Khan, who recently signed up as Roach’s pupil following his career-threatening KO defeat to Breidis Prescott in the first 54 seconds of their fight.

The 5-foot-11 Khan could provide help in so far as being one inch taller than De La Hoya. Experts, however, have earlier said that sparring against Khan won’t benefit the reigning WBC lightweight title holder.

“Style-wise I don’t know if he is the best guy to prepare Pacquiao for this fight (with De La Hoya). But they will work together,” said Roach previously. “I believe he needs to get back on that horse as soon as possible. Get some confidence back and take it from there.”

Pacquiao is also scheduled to face three big guys whom Roach said boasts of sharp jabs and left hooks which are De La Hoya’s signature punches.

Yuri Foreman is 5-11 with a 25-0-0 card and eight KOs. He will be joined by 5-10 fellow middleweight Arron Robinson (6-2-0, 4KOs), and welterweight Rashad Holloway (5-11, 9-1-0 KOs).

Meanwhile, Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, has put De La Hoya, the sport’s pay-per-view king, and Pacquiao, the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter, in the cover of its December issue out for sale on Oct. 28.

Like De La Hoya, Pacquiao is no stranger to being the prime attraction of The Ring, which has been published since 1922.

The Filipino ring icon also landed on The Ring cover for his rematch against Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez in its February issue this year. Pacquiao won the fight held March 15 at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino by split decision.

Recognizing Pacquiao’s global appeal, The Ring also put him in the cover of the magazine’s 2008 Boxing Almanac & Book of Facts. Pacquiao shared the limelight with De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Joe Calzaghe, Kelly Pavlik and Miguel Cotto.

Pacquiao, named by The Ring as its 2006 Fighter of the Year, also appeared in the magazine twice in 2004, once in 2006 and four times in 2007.

Also, British superstar Ricky Hatton has put both De La Hoya and Pacquiao high on his list of probable opponents next year.