The Neutral Corner

De La Hoya has worked with nearly every top trainer in the sport. For this fight, he will enter the ring with Nacho Beristain. One of the top Mexican trainers in history, Nacho has worked with Ricardo Lopez, Daniel Zaragoza and Humberto "Chiquita" Gonzalez. He currently trains Juan Manuel Marquez, who fought Pacquiao to a draw in 2004 and lost a split decision to him earlier this year.

The two trainers participated in a conference call with the media this week. Here are some of the highlight from that call.

Roach was asked if his experience working with Oscar will help him prepare Manny:

Freddie Roach: He's got a good left hand and doesn't have a lot of confidence in his right hand. So, we know we have to get past that jabbing and that's going to be our toughest opposition, I believe. And we're working on that and I've got some great sparring partners with better jabs than Oscar and Manny's handling it very well... And we're going to put pressure on this guy because I know Oscar tends to get tired late in rounds in slow paced fights. We're going to fight the whole time and just burn him out.

He was also asked how much Manny was weighing:

Freddie Roach: He weighs 151 pounds right now. We have him on a better diet and feeding him more protein and putting the weight on (unintelligible) keeping that weight stabilized actually. And he's been about the same weight throughout camp and so we were a couple of pounds overweight, actually. We're not coming up and weighing. We didn't use any weightlifting or anything like that to make him bigger just because I believe speed wins this fight.

His body fat is 6%. His weight's good. Oscar's a little taller and so forth but by fight time I think Oscar will probably weigh about 160 pounds and Manny will be about 150 pounds. So ten pounds I'm not really worried about that because I feel that speed wins this fight - not size.

He was asked if size will be a problem in this fight:

Freddie Roach: It's not an issue at all. We're just preparing for the fight. He knows he can win this fight. I know he can win this fight. We're very confident. Training camp's going really, really well. He's handling the biggest sparring partners well. When I saw how he handled the biggest sparring partners I was very pleased. And he's doing well.

Will Manny's punches have the same effect against a bigger opponent?

Freddie Roach: Well Manny in his career ...nobody as big as Oscar. of course. But in the gym, Victor Ortiz - he and Manny went at it, I mean toe-to-toe. Victor's a good puncher, very strong kid. Manny handled it with no problem but again the gym's a gym and the fight is a fight. Oscar ... his right hand is kind of okay but his left hook is a power shot; something we have to look out for. We're working on staying away from that. And Manny's size ... the thing is again, I'm not looking for a knockout. If a knockout comes, it comes. We're going to break this guy down and win each round one at a time. And that's our goal.

And if Oscar tires, like he normally does, we will stop him. I'm not worried about Manny being a knockout puncher in this fight because he's not that one- punch knockout type of guy. He breaks people down and he gets them out late and is more with aggression.

And now, from Nacho Beristain:

How much does Oscar weigh right now? And with Oscar having to weigh in at 147 pounds for this fight, which is a little less than he's weighed in the last few years, does that change his preparation at all?

Nacho Beristain: Well, what I can tell all of you about Oscar's weight is that I was worried a week ago because Oscar was weighing 150 pounds, 149, 148, and he went all the way down to 146. That is obviously not the ideal weight for a fighter that is fighting on December 6 at 147 pounds. So we got together. I talked to De La Hoya and I talked to Rob Garcia who is his nutritionist. And we talked about the subject, and we decided to change a little bit of Oscar's diet. And now Oscar is eating well. He eats more carbs, more protein, and we want to keep him at the weight he is right now. He weighed in at 150 this morning and he needs to still to work out this afternoon.

Is there anything new that you're trying to show Oscar?

Nacho Beristain: No not at all. I mean Oscar - there's nothing for me to teach Oscar. Oscar is a complete fighter already. My job is to just maybe correct some little details that Oscar needs to work on such as is his body movement, or maybe his shoulders and how they have to move with his body. Oscar has been a complete fighter since he won the Gold Medal.

What is your role in the Oscar de la Hoya's corner? And what is Angelo Dundee's role in camp?

Nacho Beristain: I'm happy because Angelo Dundee is a legend. And he's going to be helping in some technique aspects, maybe some advice or just exchange points of view. And the only thing I can tell you is he's going to be there during the fight, yes, but I am the one that is going to lead the corner. But, I'm very proud that he joined the group.

How does he use his size advantage to beat Manny Pacquiao?

Nacho Beristain: I can tell you that the advantages that many people are talking about are not precise such as the weight, the size, the power punch. It's going to come out that the fight is going to be even since Manny Pacquiao's a very powerful fighter, he's as southpaw and he's a lefty. So those advantages are going to be equal the night of the fight, because obviously everybody knows that fighting a southpaw is very hard; it is very difficult. And fighting Manny Pacquiao makes it a little bit harder. So I think there are no advantages for Oscar and there are no advantages for Manny Pacquiao. I think it's going to be a very even fight. And what I can tell you also is that it is going to be a very interesting fight.

Read all of the Neutral Corner's coverage of the Oscar De La Hoya-Manny Pacquiao fight.

Photos from the Pacquiao-De La Hoya New York press conference.

-- CASSIDY