Columnist Dean Juipe: Again, Oscar is ‘better than ever’

Dean Juipe

Thursday, March 15, 2001 | 9:36 a.m.

Oscar De La Hoya is at it again.

The former Olympic gold medalist and former five-time world champion as a professional has never failed to come into a fight without claiming that he is newly improved and "better than ever."

He did it again this week during a conference call promoting his March 24 fight with Arturo Gatti at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

This time, De La Hoya is giving new trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. the credit for his renewed enthusiasm and strengthened arsenal.

"Maybe I was just lying to myself," De La Hoya said of complaints that he has repeatedly expressed the belief he is at a peak, only to occasionally belie that impression once he steps into the ring. "But this is the real deal with Mayweather."

The latter has replaced Robert Alcazar, who had replaced Emanuel Steward, as De La Hoya's trainer. Of course the fighter has also shuffled his managerial team and dropped long-time promoter Bob Arum.

"Steward didn't teach me anything," De La Hoya said. "Alcazar had his limits."

As for losing his two most recent fights, to Shane Mosley and Felix Trinidad, De La Hoya was on the defensive, saying "Don't blame me -- blame the trainers that I had."

He was also defensive when asked why he has never fired anyone face to face.

"I have appropriate people to handle my dirty work," he said. "I have a chain of command, like any business."

The business of returning De La Hoya to champion's status begins with what is expected to be a brief fight with the cut-prone Gatti. The welterweight bout is scheduled for 10 rounds but few expect to see it go the distance.

De La Hoya is 32-2, Gatti 33-4.

"Gatti's a warrior, he'll fight til the end," De La Hoya said from his training camp in Big Bear, Calif. "It'll help me. He's a heavy hitter."

A move to 154 pounds will follow, with De La Hoya saying he expects to face WBC champ Javier Castillejo in June and then "have a big fight" -- perhaps with Fernando Vargas -- in September. Now 28 years old, De La Hoya also said "Once I hit 30, it's over."

He'll win every remaining fight in his career, he says, because of his new association with Mayweather.

"I'm learning off somebody who knows what he's talking about," De La Hoya said. "He'll say he's the best trainer in the world and I believe it because I see it every day."

He's right -- Mayweather does say he's the best.

"Now that I'm training Oscar, he's learning what boxing's all about," Mayweather said. "I'm making a lot of changes. What I'm doing for Oscar is something he didn't have: Teaching him offense to win a fight and defense to keep his career afloat."

De La Hoya has bought into the changes.

"If I'd have had Mayweather a long time ago, I'd be undefeated and still champion," he said. "I'm very focused on boxing; I have to be with Mayweather training me.

"I thought I was working before and doing the right things (before hooking up with Mayweather) but I was working as if I was fighting five-rounders. I have no choice but to work hard with Mayweather because he pushes me to the limit every day.

"I won a lot of titles on natural talent. Now I'm learning. I'm progressing."

As for criticism that he has said these things in the past, De La Hoya, who will arrive in Las Vegas on Sunday, said "It doesn't bother me at all. It's part of the game, I guess."

Johnny Tapia has reverted to blaming Top Rank's Bob Arum for his Oct. 7 decision loss to Ayala at Mandalay Bay. "I have no bad feelings," Tapia said during a conference call this week, referring to the loss. "I know I lost to the promoter, not the fighter. I did what I had to do to win. I know in my heart and the fans know who won." Tapia struck Arum's right-hand man, Todd duBoef, in the ring after the fight, although it's unclear why he targeted Top Rank when the judges had him losing by 4, 2 and 2 points. Tapia, 48-2-2, is fighting Famosito Gomez, 48-8, Saturday in Albuquerque. Asked when he might retire, the 34-year-old Tapia said it won't be "until I get a good ass-kicking." ... Boxing doesn't have too many quality writers assigned to the sport and it lost a great one this week when former New York Times staffer Phil Berger died at the age of 59.