Mayweather: Pacquiao can’t win
Hoya trainer says Golden Boy doesn’t need him
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:52:00 09/12/2008
Filed Under: Pacquiao, Boxing
MANILA, Philippines—“Ain’t no way (Manny) Pacquiao can beat Oscar (De La Hoya). No way.”
Floyd Mayweather Sr. made this statement Tuesday to explain why he is not training De La Hoya for his Dec. 6 fight with Pacquiao at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, according to an article by Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports.
Mayweather Sr., wrote Iole, confirmed the split with De La Hoya after reaching him by telephone in Biloxi, Mississippi, where he is preparing Joan Guzman to face Nate Campbell in a WBA-WBO lightweight title bout on Saturday.
“Oscar doesn’t need me to beat Pacquiao,” said Mayweather, as quoted by Iole. “He really doesn’t. For this fight, Oscar can beat Pacquiao with just about anyone training him. When he hits him with that first left hook, it’s all going to be over.
“So, I’ll be honest, Oscar doesn’t need to pay the price to get me in this fight, because he’ll win this with me or without me.”
According to Iole, De La Hoya—who was in Las Vegas promoting Saturday’s lightweight bout between Joel Casamayor and Juan Manuel Marquez—had confirmed reports that Mayweather was hired to train Ricky Hatton for his Nov. 22 fight against Paulie Malignaggi.
While De La Hoya did not say who would be in his corner against Pacquiao, Iole wrote that it was a good guess that Oscar would tap Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain, who has long been regarded as the best trainer in Mexico and whom De La Hoya holds in high regard.
Beristain is the same trainer of Marquez, who carved out a draw with Pacquiao in 2004 before losing by split decision to the Filipino ring icon in their WBC super featherweight title fight last year.
Iole said that Mayweather had intimated that the split was over money, but did not criticize De La Hoya.
“I respect Oscar and I did well with him,” Iole quoted Mayweather as saying, “but he did really, really super well by having me around. Oscar got rich, rich, rich by working with me and I made what I made.”
Besides, Iole said, Mayweather Sr. doesn’t believe De La Hoya will have trouble defeating Pacquiao, who won the WBC lightweight title on June 28 in Las Vegas when he stopped champion David Diaz.
Freddie Roach, who trained De La Hoya in his split-decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May last year, will again work for Pacquiao.
“Floyd Sr. has obligations with Ricky Hatton,” Iole quoted De La Hoya as saying. “Am I disappointed? Absolutely, I’m very disappointed. I respect Floyd Sr. very much. I respect him as a person and as a trainer. Obviously, the door is always wide open for Floyd Sr., because I truly feel that Floyd Sr. can take me, after every single fight, to a whole new level.”
Iole said that the uncertainty over when De La Hoya would fight again was the reason Mayweather decided to sign up with Hatton, noting that the trainer needed work. Steve Silva, contributor
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