INQUIRER Sports

LOS ANGELES – Make no mistake about it, Oscar De la Hoya is not taking the “Dream Match” against Manny Pacquiao lightly, judging by the way his camp has been preparing for the December 6 bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Alex Ariza said.

“They’re taking this very seriously,” Pacquiao’s fitness, strength and conditioning coach said Sunday during a break in the Filipino’s boxing superstar’s training.

Ariza, however, admitted his assumptions come from a very superficial level -- which is to say he is basing these on what he has seen and heard, not what he actually knows.

“I can only tell by how [De la Hoya] looks aesthetically and he looks fantastic,” Ariza said. “But to look good is one thing and to be able to perform well is completely different.”

Ariza said De la Hoya is responding well to a diet program implemented by his team’s nutritionists and that, in public appearances he has made thus far, the Golden Boy doesn’t look “gaunt or emaciated” from having to lose too much weight.

“People usually turn yellowish as a result of dieting,” Ariza explained. “Oscar isn’t like that. He looks aesthetically good. His trainer is doing a good thing with his diet.

“They’re using a smart and intelligent approach but I don’t know if they did it right. He has been at that weight for five months now, which will help him increase his strength at the lower weights.”

“Again, his condition remains to be seen.”

Ariza said this has been Pacquiao’s most intense preparation for a fight. And it’s not just because this is the longest Pacquiao has ever trained before a bout. But the trainer added that De La Hoya has also altered several of his routines to negate the quickness and hand speed that the Filipino will bring into the ring.

“They’re also doing plyometrics, drills, things they’ve never done before,” Ariza said.

Although he hasn’t personally handled De La Hoya, Ariza said he is aware of De La Hoya’s techniques because American trainer Freddie Roach once handled the Golden Boy.

Pacquiao also started incorporating plyometrics into his routine, in the hopes of further adding zing to his vaunted power punches. But that program was ditched after the General Santos native showed signs that he wasn’t responding to it.

De La Hoya has been tagged the overwhelming favorite for this pricey match because of his size advantage. At 5-foot-10, he is four inches taller than Pacquiao and has a five-reach advantage over the Filipino.

De La Hoya has already fought before at the welterweight limit set for the match, while the heaviest Pacquiao has ever fought was at 135 lbs, when he wrested the WBC lightweight crown from David Diaz last June to become the first Asian to win four titles in four different divisions.

But that was the only time Pacquiao fought as a lightweight and he is also leapfrogging to the welterweight ranks for the first time in a career that started out at the 106-lbs weight class.