There shouldn’t be any problem with Oscar dela Hoya hooking up with a trainer he’s never worked with before as he moved just 68 days before his “Dream Match” with Manny Pacquiao.
“I don’t think it makes a difference,” Ronnie Shields, current trainer of lightweight Juan Diaz and who once worked for heavyweight Mike Tyson, told Eric Raskin of ESPN.com.
It was only a few days ago that Dela Hoya formally announced that he’d be having Nacho Beristain, the trainer of champions from Mexico, in his MGM corner for the Pacquiao fight.
Beristain has trained 16 world champions in close to 40 years in the business. And the list includes the Marquez brothers, Juan Manuel and Rafael, Ricardo Lopez, Daniel Zaragoza and Chiquita Gonzalez.
But he’s never worked with Dela Hoya. Again, Shields said it won’t matter.
“Oscar’s been around a long time, he’s not a young fighter on the way up. It shouldn’t take him long to gel with Nacho,” he told Raskin, former managing editor of Ring Magazine, the bible of boxing.
In contrast, Pacquiao and his trainer, Freddie Roach, have been together for more than six years now, and have actually formed one of the best, strongest partnerships in recent history.
Dela Hoya has changed trainers three times in his last three fights – Floyd Mayweather Sr., Roach and now Beristain. He’s also been under Robert Alcazar and Emmanuel Steward, Raskin noted.
Yet, he said Dela Hoya couldn’t have made a better choice than Beristain.
“His experience with Juan Manuel means he’s already prepped to face Pacquiao twice and has had some success against Pacman,” Raskin wrote.
“Oscar dela Hoya is one of the premier fighters of this era and I am excited about working with him for this very important fight,” said Beristain upon his acceptance of the Dela Hoya job.
“I already have a plan in mind for beating Pacquiao and I know Oscar will do whatever it takes to carry that plan through on fight night,” he said. – Abac Cordero