MANILA, Philippines?Don Jose Sulaiman did not specify whether it was an elephant or a rhinoceros which he saw in today?s Oscar De la Hoya.

But the grizzly chieftain of the World Boxing Council, a one-time aspirant pontiff of pugilism, landed a solid punch when he put a label to the scheduled De La Hoya-Manny Pacquiao fight in Las Vegas.

He called it a fight between a pachyderm and a hobbit horse.

Don Jose also did not mince words to stress what he thought the Pacquiao-De La Hoya was all about.

It?s honestly a circus, with raking in big money as main objective, he barked.

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In fairness to De La Hoya, he parried Sulaiman?s shot with composure and dignity.

He said the hobbit horse is ?complicated, awkward, fast and very explosive with both hands.?

He said he?s ready to be supremely challenged by Pacquiao.

Being older and bigger, De La Hoya swore he would have to struggle in order to go down to the stipulated weight (147 lb).

At least, Oscar did not have to turn to the great Larry Merchant, original proponent of the fight, to help explain why his forthcoming clash against Pacquiao is anything but a circus act.

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With the disparity in size, there?s the danger of the fight slipping into an oddity.

But, just the same, it has remained an intriguing ring encounter.

There?s also one big problem.

De La Hoya, reacting late, has left the big promotion against the ropes.

He has given critics enough room to kick and torpedo the card.

Now, Golden Boy Promotions people are left to parry as assorted blows as rain on the Dec. 6 card at MGM Grand.

They had even allowed Joel Casamayor to liken Pacquiao to a robot.

OK, De La Hoya at once zoomed as the overwhelming favorite.

In the process, the promotion continues to be battered, with no assurance that gate and pay-per-view sales won?t suffer and inevitably slip.

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How to successfully market the Pacquiao-De La Hoya?

Golden Boy need not look far.

Right there beside him is the tested maestro, Bob Arum, known to turn insignificant encounters into promotional masterpieces.

You can bet Uncle Bob has the perfect formula.

For example, would?ve Sulaiman bothered to bark had it been Arum who?s driving the sales truck?

Don Jose was mad about sanction fees and other receivables which normally go to the WBC coffers.

Knowing Arum, who has vowed support for the fight, he would?ve moved ahead and even gotten Sulaiman to be part of the sales team.

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Arum is a pressure player who doesn?t leave the public time to doubt.

Remember the third meeting between Pacquiao and Mexican ring great Erik Morales?

Morales, after getting a new bride, had also moved up to the lightweight proper, thereby losing in the same card where Pacquiao stopped Mexican Hector Velasquez.

Morales signed up for his third fight with Pacquiao hopelessly overweight.

To check everything, Arum hired Velocity, a popular weight reducing outfit to trim down Morales.

Arum next crashed the Pacquiao training camp on the eve of the weigh-in to brag that ?my boy has no problem, Erik will kill Pacquiao.?

True enough, Morales next breezed past the official scales at exactly 130 lb.

Looking perfectly fit for a Hollywood shoot, Morales also got knocked out silly in the third round.

Of course, the fight was a sell-out.

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Pacquiao?s fight against Jorge Solis at the Texas Alamadome in 2006 had all the makings of a mismatch.

It was, at first sight, as silly as selling a bag of peanut shells to the fight crowd.

Solis was indeed coming to the fight unbeaten, but Arum went to town riding on the published height edge of the Mexican, 5-foot-10 against the 5-foot-6 Pacquiao.

Arum did not have to walk the tightrope to make the impending mismatch loom as the most interesting bout in the world for the period.

By the time Top Rank Promotions reluctantly admitted that Solis was, in truth, only five-foot-eight, all tickets had already been sold.

Would Arum lend the hobbit horse that went on to crush the outmatched Solis a few bogus inches?

We will never know, but Oscar De la Hoya need not ask around.