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De la Hoya no match for Pacquiao - Roach
Other Sports, 13:12, November 29, 2008 ,
Freddie Roach has called his former charge Oscar De la Hoya a 'part-time fighter' ahead of his fight against Manny Pacquiao.
Roach will be in the corner of Pacquiao for the pair's fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on December 6 and claims that time has taken his toll on De la Hoya.
"Oscar is 35 and it's obvious Father Time is catching up with him," said Roach. "Boxing is a young man's game."
Six-weight world champion and Olympic gold medalists De la Hoya has lost three of his last six fights, including a controversial bout to Floyd Mayweather Jr, which Roach believes the 35-year-old would have won had he stuck to their original plan.
"Oscar works well when he can follow a script, but he showed in his fight against [Floyd] Mayweather [De la Hoya lost on points last May] that he's even having problems doing that.
"Our game plan was working well the first half of the fight and then he stopped.
Roach believes that despite Pacquiao's size disadvantage his four-time world champion will get the better of De la Hoya, despite fighting at welterweight for the first time in his career.
"Manny can flat-out fight three minutes of every round for 12 rounds and he picks up a new lesson the first time it's shown to him," said Roach.
"Manny not only has the discipline and the stamina to follow a script in the ring, he has also become a master at improvising. And I think that may be the difference in this fight."