Oscar ready for next step

Dean Juipe

Friday, Jan. 17, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

There is not a blemish to be found.

He's relaxed, cool, controlled and unfailingly polite. He has met and exceeded expectations, handling the pressure of grandiose demands with an expertise that belies his still-young age of 23.

Yet as Oscar De La Hoya surveys his almost heavenly existence, he's cognizant of just how quickly it could disappear.

Driven by the fear of defeat and the embarrassment of disrupting his plans, he knows he has to keep winning.

"I think about (losing) all the time," De La Hoya said Thursday in his Caesars Palace suite. "It's scary. To lose means breaking all your plans. That's why I train so hard."

He works at boxing, perhaps to the extent he's consumed by it, motivated by an orderly pursuit of perfection and a fine attention to detail.

"It's very important (for me) to be recognized as an all-time great fighter," he said. "I want to be considered one of the great legends, someone who fought the best and did well against them."

He is definitely on course. At 22-0 with 20 knockouts against a steady parade of quality opposition, De La Hoya is potentially the most outstanding fighter of the 1990s.

Saturday he looks to add to his credentials with a win over Miguel Angel Gonzalez, a former 135-pound world champion who is 41-0 with 31 KOs. Their 12-round fight for De La Hoya's World Boxing Council 140-pound title will be held at the Thomas & Mack Center, with a crowd of about 12,000 expected.

The odds have finally shifted a bit in the Caesars Palace sports book, with De La Hoya bet down to a --750 vs. a +575 for Gonzalez. The primary round prop is 5 1/2.

Those wagering on Gonzalez do so in spite of De La Hoya's advantages in power and speed.

When De La Hoya says "Miguel Angel Gonzalez is not a complete fighter" he does it in an analytical manner, with no sense of disrespect meant for his opponent. "He doesn't have speed, his reflexes aren't the fastest out there and he doesn't start out fast," De La Hoya added, completing his assessment.

Obviously, he expects to win.

Pointedly, he has to win in order to advance to an April fight in Las Vegas with an even more prominent champion, WBC 147-pound ruler Pernell Whitaker. Even bigger fights are to follow against the likes of Kostya Tszyu, Ike Quartey, Felix Trinidad and Terry Norris -- but only if De La Hoya proves to be the legendary fighter he envisions.

A loss anywhere along the line and everything he has come to cherish will lessen in value.

"People want to see good fights and I'm willing to do that," he said. "I'm willing to fight the very best. I want to become known as the very best fighter out there."

Equally important, he also strives to be known as the most decent, clean-living and conscientious fighter out there.

"I want the responsibility of being a role model for kids," he said, and he's well on his way to reaching his goal in that area as well. He doesn't speak down to people, doesn't thump his chest, doesn't act one way in public and another behind closed doors.

He is, as he was dubbed after winning America's only gold medal in boxing in the 1992 Olympics, the "Golden Boy." That, in itself, is a high standard to meet and a potentially heavy burden to carry.

Yet he does it, willingly, almost without effort.

"I was always a good kid growing up," he said. "I've never really been involved in anything bad."

That's squeaky clean, particularly given the temptations of fame and fortune he enjoys. But he isn't lured into mischief and he almost can't be pulled from his ultimate focus, this idea of being a great champion in and out of the ring.

He also hopes to broaden his appeal without being condescending to the Mexican-Americans who have yet to bestow him with the complete respect he probably deserves.

"(Gonzalez) is probably the last Mexican I'll fight," De La Hoya said. "One reason the Mexican fans have been against me is I've been fighting every Mexican champion and beating them. It's made me look bad in the community."

The "community" he refers to is his home, East Los Angeles. Elsewhere, De La Hoya has few if any detractors.

(Partly by chance and partly by the design of his promoter, Bob Arum, De La Hoya has picked off a number of Mexican champions, most notably Julio Cesar Chavez. The idea: Eliminate the competition, thereby rallying all of Mexico behind him.)

"But I don't worry about who likes me and who doesn't anymore," De La Hoya said. "I want people in Indonesia, Japan, everywhere, to know me. If they want to be behind me, good. If they don't, I have other fans to think about."

If there's a healing process that needs to take place, De La Hoya won't force it. "It's outside my control," he said, accepting the strange reality that some sports fans may not care for an athlete so closely aligned with perfection.

Gonzalez, of course, could disrupt everything.

"He's a tough cookie," De La Hoya said. "He looks better at 140 than he did at 135. But I'm ready for him.

"I think he'll be my last fight at one level, then Whitaker will be my first fight at the next level."

While not preoccupied with looking ahead, he is always looking ahead. It's a result of having a plan and sticking to it.

"I'm not going to be in boxing a long time," he reiterated. "Two, three more years at the most."

He said his enthusiasm for the game increased when he added Jesus "the Professor" Rivero to his training staff last year, and that "a day doesn't go by that he doesn't teach me something I didn't know."

They're already looking at tapes of Whitaker and Trinidad in particular, following the Girl Scout credo of "always be prepared" to an extreme.

For De La Hoya, it's all about maximizing his presence in boxing and becoming its goodwill ambassador. He has taken this self-appointed task to heart, sincerely trying to live up to his advance reputation as the fighter and the person most likely to succeed.