Oscar one cool customer

Dean Juipe

Friday, Sept. 12, 1997 | 9:39 a.m.

AFTER ALL the insults, the threats and the posturing from Hector Camacho, there was Oscar De La Hoya initiating a handshake with his feisty rival.

It was the professional thing to do and, as a result, De La Hoya was going to do it.

He is, after all, the definitive sportsman, a professional fighter with Olympian ideals. Like hockey players shaking hands after the final game of the Stanley Cup playoffs, De La Hoya makes it a point to turn the other cheek at the most idiosyncratic moment.

He is a textbook pro, as adaptable as he is unflappable.

"I'm able to step back and go with the flow," he said of taking his opponent's best verbal shots and still come up smiling. "It's easier that way. And it's really not that hard."

It's that attitude that prompted De La Hoya to extend his hand toward Camacho the other day at Caesars Palace. It was a subliminally telltale gesture, one not meant for some peculiar male bonding but one designed to reinforce the notion that De La Hoya will not be deterred.

He has the will to succeed and the desire to do it correctly.

"Being angry or having a chip on your shoulder doesn't do a fighter any good," he said. "I've tried to make it a habit to block out things that maybe once got me mad."

That armor was tested by Camacho throughout the promotion leading to their Saturday fight at the Thomas & Mack Center. At the final prefight press conference, for instance, Camacho tossed ice cubes and grapes toward De La Hoya, talked while De La Hoya was at the microphone and generally misbehaved without interruption.

A lesser man may have reacted differently but De La Hoya reacted with little more than a bemused smile.

"It was tough at first but I've learned to laugh at the things Hector does," he said. "I know what he's trying to do: He wants to get me off my game plan. I'm just not going to give in and let him do it."

De La Hoya, 25-0, and Camacho, 64-3-1, will be fighting for De La Hoya's World Boxing Council 147-pound championship. Tickets remain but the pay-per-view option is not available in Southern Nevada.

It's a potentially difficult fight for the undefeated champion, as Camacho is an elusive southpaw who has added some muscle over the years.

"I chose this fight because it's probably the toughest one out there for me right now," De La Hoya said. "His style makes him a problem. It's not so much that he hits hard or that he could knock me out, it's more a matter of catching and containing him."

While De La Hoya, 24, is coming off a knockout win over lightly regarded David Kamau, his two most recent significant fights saw him fail to catch and contain Pernell Whitaker and fail to force iron-headed Miguel Angel Gonzalez to go down in submission despite a repetitive beating.

Tack on Camacho's startling never-been-knocked-out record and the principal round proposition bet is up at a relatively high 8 1/2. De La Hoya is a --900 to win the fight and Camacho is a +700 at the host casino, Caesars Palace.

De La Hoya says he'll win in seven.

"I put some pressure on myself by saying that," he admitted. "But that's part of my motivation. Julio Cesar Chavez couldn't knock Camacho out and neither could Felix Trinidad, even if they both beat him real good.

"I want to be the first to do it."

Predictably, Camacho, 35, scoffs at such talk. "If there's any knocking out to do, I'll be the one doing it," he said.

To Camacho's everlasting credit, he has gone through innumerable pressure-packed fights without ever being counted out. As De La Hoya learned with Gonzalez and may experience again with Camacho, there are some fighters who simply won't go down.

"You can't get discouraged but you do get to where you feel sorry for the guy," he said. "You have to give a man credit if he can take your best shot, like Gonzalez did with me. But I know if I connect with the right shot, Camacho will go down."

Toward that goal, De La Hoya has aligned himself with a new trainer, the offensive-minded Emanuel Steward.

"Nobody at the welterweight level can beat Oscar," Steward said. "In fact, at this point in time I don't see anyone beating him."

There are dangerous opponents out there awaiting De La Hoya in 1998 and beyond, some of whom will surely test Steward's theory. Terry Norris? Trinidad? Ike Quartey? Maybe Whitaker again?

Of course a loss to Camacho and De La Hoya's many plans are reduced to rubble.

"I can see he's in good shape and I know he's going to come out and fight me," De La Hoya said of Camacho. "But I've got some good tactics in place and I'm going to go with my instincts when I see the time is right."

Instincts and timing. They're two areas where De La Hoya has been especially blessed, whether it's landing a decisive punch or winning America's only boxing gold medal in the 1992 Olympics.

Now he's the sport's Golden Boy, reaching out to friend and foe alike.

Camacho, by the way, had the good sense to take hold.