Oscar De La Hoya: I'll Kill Manny Pacquiao's Speed With My Timing

Manny Pacquiao said today that he thinks Oscar De La Hoya, his opponent on December 6, has lost the speed he had in his prime. Here's what De La Hoya thinks about that:

"[Floyd] Mayweather Sr., my ex-trainer, once told me, 'The easy way to kill speed is with timing,'" De La Hoya said. "I've just got to time it. That makes perfect sense. You can be the slowest fighter out there, but if you can time that punch coming in, you can be 10 times faster than any fighter."

I'm not so sure I buy that you can be "the slowest fighter out there" and still compete with a boxer as quick as Pacquiao, but I do think De La Hoya's overall point about timing is consistent with the advice he said he got from Michael Jordan: He has to keep evolving mentally to beat a younger, faster opponent.