Former pound for pound champion Manny Pacquiao believes his boxing career would have been sweeter if he had been given a chance to fight Oscar De La Hoya in his prime, the fighting congressman stated in a ESPN Sports Nation chat room.
Pacquiao and his opponent Brandon "Bam Bam" Rios stopped by ESPN's headquarters in Bristol, Conn. to promote their Battle in Contai welterweight showdown scheduled on Nov. 23 in Macau, China.
As part of their visit, Pacquiao and Rios were given several minutes to interact with boxing fans in the ESPN Sports Nation chat room and tried to answer as many questions as they could.
Pacquiao, who's looking for a bounce-back win following a devastating knockout loss at the hands of Juan Manuel Marquez last December, received all sorts of inquiries about his preparation for the Rios bout and the life of being a legislator in his country.
However, one fan question stood out the most: which all-time great did Pacqiao want to fight in his prime and why?
Pacquiao, who's considered a surefire Hall of Famer, replied with a simple answer: Oscar De la Hoya.
Pacquiao and De la Hoya already met before inside the ring and it ended with the Filipino boxer retiring the 6-division world champion after peppering him with power punches in all eight rounds. However, De la Hoya was already in the twilight of his boxing career by that time and had to purposely dehydrate himself to make the catch weight for the Pacman fight.
When asked which work is harder as a boxer or congressman, Pacquiao answered the former but didn't tell why.
The Pacquiao-Rios Battle in Cotai Showdown will be the first big time boxing card to be held in the Chinese city of Macau, just a short flight from the Philippnes.
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