NEW YORK?Oscar De La Hoya wants to fight at least a couple more times after taking on Filipino hero Manny Pacquiao on Dec. 6 in Las Vegas, in what is sure to be the biggest fight of the year.

?There?s no doubt about it. My mind can still do it, my body can still do it,? De La Hoya said below the Statue of Liberty on Wednesday.

De La Hoya broke box-office and pay-per-view records with his narrow loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year, and boxing?s most bankable star said that fight proved he could still compete.

?Let?s say I retired after the Mayweather fight,? he said. ?I would have come back. There?s no doubt about it. I?m definitely going to fight after this.?

Accustomed to being the smaller fighter, for once it was De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs) who towered over Pacquiao.

Pound-for-pound king Pacquiao (47-3-2, 35 KOs) didn?t have a problem carrying his speed to lightweight when he knocked out David Diaz in June, and thinks he?ll be stronger at welterweight.

?Some people are criticizing Oscar for picking on a small guy like me,? Pacquiao, a 5-foot-6 southpaw, said. ?Some people say I?m picking this fight for the money. I?m going to prove everyone wrong.?

There should be plenty of intriguing story lines.

Pacquiao?s longtime trainer is Freddie Roach, who also prepared De La Hoya for his bout against Mayweather. Roach confided that he saw something in the later rounds against Mayweather that Pacquiao can use to his advantage.

?I learned a lot during that nine-week period and now I?m going to use it against him,? Roach said.