Oscar De La Hoya had a conference call earlier this week to talk about his Dec. 6 fight against Manny Pacquiao on HBO PPV. One interesting item came up. Apparently Oscar, a Mexican-American, has invited a bunch of Mexican legends to the fight. Some of them, though, may not be rooting for Oscar. Here are some of the exchanges from the call's transcript:
Q: You invited roughly around 10 to 15 ex-world champions from Mexico to the fight how did that go and what fighters are confirmed?
A: I had the pleasure of going down to Mexico in my last visit about a couple of months ago before I started training camp for some business. And it so happened that there were about 20 champions, past champions, the greats from Mexico, who were there at the press conference and I invited all of them to the fight. And they all accepted and so we're very glad. I feel very fortunate to have these great legends, talking about the fight and the Chiquita Gonzalezes and Pipino Cuevases of this world, the greats from Mexico who will be supporting me 100%.
Q: You said about 20 of the Mexican champions are going to accept an invitation to the fight. Does that include Julio Cesar Chavez?
A: Well, I believe Chavez is going to be on Pacquiao's side. I heard Chavez and (Antonio) Margarito are going to be on Pacquiao's side.
Q: Does that bother you at all that Mexico's greatest champion is going to be on the other side?
A: Oh, no, not at all because the one fighter that I looked up to the most or the fighters from Mexico that I looked up to the most will be on my side, which is Ruben Olivares, Pipino Cuevas, Chiquita Gonzalez, and Finito Lopez. So those types of fighters are the fighters that I really admired growing up.
If Chavez and Margarito are rooting for Pac Man, the reasons are pretty obvious. Oscar beat Chavez twice and has refused -- along with just about everyone else -- to fight Margarito.
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