Chavez can't hide his contempt for De La Hoya
By Norm Frauenheim | Special to CBSSports.com
Julio Cesar Chavez came to endorse a Phoenix law firm. He wound up condemning Oscar De La Hoya.
Chavez, his dark eyes flashing contempt like sparks off flint, ripped De La Hoya during a news conference at Central Boxing near downtown Phoenix for his old rival's fight against Manny Pacquiao on Dec. 6 at Las Vegas' MGM Grand.
Chavez is baffled by De La Hoya's decision to fight the smaller Pacquiao in a welterweight bout he mocked as an off-the-scale mismatch.
Yes, Chavez said, Pacquiao, a former junior flyweight, has a chance against the former middleweight "only if De La Hoya doesn't have hands."
The only hands necessary, perhaps, will be the many needed to count the money De La Hoya-Pacquiao is expected to generate. Chavez mentioned dinero during his rhetorical assault Wednesday just as brokers, Vegas casinos, various other high-rollers and maybe even a few regular fans bought enough tickets for a live gate that will reportedly approach $17 million, boxing's second-biggest ever.
There is a many-sided temptation, perhaps cynical, to say that Chavez's undisguised contempt is rooted in frustration that still smolders from two losses to De La Hoya so long ago. The Chavez pride, like the scars from 115 fights that crisscross his forehead and frame his eyes, will always be there.
It just won't let him forget, especially when De La Hoya's box-office punch might be the only punch he still has. Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach says De La Hoya can't pull "the trigger" any more. But he still has a key to the vault, which is one Chavez never had for long, despite his undiminished hold on the Mexican imagination as the proud face of that country's rich ring tradition.
In Chavez's dismissive tone, there is unmistakable anger that De La Hoya is trespassing on turf he sees as his own. In part, De La Hoya, a Mexican-American and a U.S. gold medalist at the 1992 Olympics, has talked about the December bout as a chance to avenge all the losses Mexicans have suffered at the quick, powerful hands of Pacquiao, a Filipino whose growing collection of nicknames includes Mexicutioner.
"Por favor," Chavez said in a mocking plea that needed no translation after he was introduced alongside his feared and familiar pose on fight-like posters for Alcock & Associates, a downtown Phoenix firm.
If De La Hoya wins hands down or with no hands at all, it won't make any difference in Mexico, says Chavez, who believes Pacquiao's go-for-broke style makes the Filipino more popular with Mexican fans anyway.
"If he thinks beating Pacquiao will make Mexicans love him, he's crazy," said Chavez, whose Scottsdale-based company, Julio Cesar Chavez Enterprises, is planning to open a Phoenix entertainment complex that will include a sports bar.
Despite Chavez's often rocky rivalry with De La Hoya, he is not alone in his opinion of the Pacquiao bout. As intriguing as it is to some, it's a spectacle that offends the traditionalist in others.
"It is abusive to all Mexicans," said Chavez, who also called Juan Manuel Marquez's split-decision over Pacquiao in March "a fraud" and said De La Hoya should be fighting Antonio Margarito, who might be headed for a date with Sugar Shane Mosley after Mosley beat Ricardo Mayorga on Saturday night in Carson, Calif.
