No one to blame if De La Hoya loses

LAS VEGAS – Oscar De La Hoya might have beaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. had he stayed with his jab and found a way to land a left hook or two. He would have beaten Felix Trinidad if he hadn’t decided to run instead of fight in the last few rounds, and he might have gotten the best of Shane Mosley if he hadn’t faded late in their two fights.

One common theme emerged after all of those losses – it always seemed to be someone else’s fault.

“It’s his nature,” trainer Freddie Roach said. “He’s never been a man who blames himself. He’ll always blame someone else.”

There will be plenty of blame to spread around on Saturday if De La Hoya can’t beat an undersized Manny Pacquiao in a 147-pound (67-kilogram) non-title fight even the oddsmakers expect him to win. Unlike De La Hoya’s fight last year against Mayweather, though, Roach won’t be a target of it because he’ll be in the opposite corner doing everything possible to carry Pacquiao to victory.

He’ll settle for a decision win. But what Roach would really like is a knockout that could bring an end to De La Hoya’s long career.

“I go through scenarios before I go to bed every night,” Roach said. “I can’t sleep until I come up with the right ending. And it always ends with Manny knocking him out.”

Part of Roach’s confidence comes from the knowledge that Pacquiao is supremely talented, so good that many in boxing have given him the mythical title of the best pound-for-pound fighter in the game. The other part comes from training De La Hoya for several months to fight Mayweather, and seeing what happened just before his fighter went into the ring.

“He’s so tight,” Roach said. “I’ve never seen a fighter so experienced be so tight before a fight.”

De La Hoya vigorously disputes that, of course, and points to a number of wins in big fights against Julio Cesar Chavez, Fernando Vargas and Pernell Whitaker, among others. But he hasn’t won a significant fight since knocking out Vargas six years ago. At the age of 35, De La Hoya needs a spectacular performance against Pacquiao if he expects to keep fighting for the huge purses he has been so accustomed to getting every time he steps into the ring.

De La Hoya the fighter knows that. Just as important, so does De La Hoya the promoter.

“I will be extremely, extremely disappointed if this fight doesn’t end in a knockout,” De La Hoya said. “It will be a total disaster for me.”

De La Hoya hopes to avoid that disaster by trading often and frequently against a fighter who has built a career on coming forward with little regard for his chin. Pacquiao has been extremely successful doing that, but will be moving up two weight classes and be forced to face a fighter who will not only have a height and reach advantage but an edge in strength, too.

The scheduled 12-round fight at the MGM Grand hotel-casino will be lucrative for both fighters, thanks to a $54.95 pay-per-view price tag that will generate millions of dollars even in a bad US economy. Pacquiao (47-3-2, 35 knockouts) is guaranteed $11 million, while De La Hoya (39-5, 30 knockouts) could easily double that with his percentage of the profits. (AP)