De La Hoya and Pacquiao are Vegas-bound
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Oscar De La Hoya stopped by Staples Center on Monday for the unveiling of a statue of him standing atop lower ring ropes and raising his fists in victory. The statue is at a Staples entrance already decorated by statues of Magic Johnson and Wayne Gretzky.
‘If I can touch one person and make them think, ‘I can do it,’ my goal is accomplished,’ De La Hoya told onlookers.
The Times’ Bill Plaschke will be posting a column later tonight on the ceremony.
The ceremony drew De La Hoya’s wife, Millie, their two children and other family members. De La Hoya was scheduled to fly from Van Nuys Airport to Las Vegas on Monday.
‘We had a workout this morning in Pasadena, and his spirits and morale are so high ... I haven’t seen this much confidence and speed from him since before the first [Julio Cesar] Chavez fight,’ said Joel De La Hoya, the boxer’s brother. ‘As soon as we get to Vegas, we’re going right over to [run at] the track at UNLV.’
De La Hoya will stay in a residence about 10 minutes off the Strip, Joel De La Hoya said.
Meanwhile, Manny Pacquiao, De La Hoya’s Saturday opponent, had a planned publicity event scrapped by trainer Freddie Roach. Pacquiao was supposed to be marking his goodbye from Wild Card gym in Hollywood by boarding a bus adorned with his image.
Maybe someone feeling guilty about false advertising pulled the plug.
A source close to Pacquiao said the boxer is superstitious and won’t travel to Las Vegas by bus, preferring instead to drive himself. Good thing he didn’t leave Sunday night. By all reports -- OK, according to my wife, who took our daughter to a softball tournament in Las Vegas -- the ride to and from Vegas at the end of Thanksgiving weekend was ‘hellish.’
The boxers will make their first Vegas appearances on Tuesday, then participate in a final news conference Wednesday before Friday’s weigh-in and Saturday’s fight, which is on HBO pay-per-view.
The Times will provide complete coverage of the fight, both in the newspaper and our boxing page.
-- Lance Pugmire
