Oscar winning show?

Oscar De La Hoya weighed in at a ripped 145 pounds. (Steve marcus/Reuters)

LAS VEGAS - Light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins grabbed ring announcer Michael Buffer's microphone at the MGM Grand yesterday and proclaimed, "Oscar De La Hoya will win this fight. If anybody's got a problem with that, I'll be outside."

Nobody took the 43-year-old up on his offer, but plenty of people disagreed with Hopkins, who defeated De La Hoya for the undisputed middleweight championship Sept. 18, 2004, then joined De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions. Especially disagreeing was the large Filipino contingent seated to the left of the stage, all ardent Manny Pacquiao supporters who believe their "Pacman" will wear down the 35-year-old De La Hoya tonight in a 147-pound nontitle fight.

"This is one of the greatest fights we've ever seen, but Oscar will knock him out in the seventh or eighth round," said Hopkins.

De La Hoya weighed in at 145 pounds yesterday, as one fan shouted, "Too skinny, Oscar. You're going down!" Pacquiao, who numerous times was referred to as the "best fighter in the world, pound for pound" by Buffer and weigh-in "host" George Lopez, weighed in at 142.

Many experts are picking De La Hoya, who may retire, win or lose, in this HBO pay-per-view event because of his 6-inch reach advantage and 4-inch height advantage. De La Hoya has not been overly controversial this week except for a few jabs he's thrown the way of Freddie Roach, who trained him in a May 7, 2007, split-decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr., and now trains Pacquiao.

Roach, meanwhile, has been on the offensive against De La Hoya. At the weigh-in, the two never acknowledged each other. Roach, one of boxing's more colorful trainers, has been cast as the villain in the matchup to spice things up, but Roach's hope is that once the fight is over, the two will be friends again.

However, Roach complained to the boxing commission yesterday about the way De La Hoya wraps his hands, claiming he uses 2-inch tape, which causes a ridge between the knuckle and the glove that could increase the chances to cut an opponent.

Roach said De La Hoya used illegal tape in the Mayweather fight. Roach, asked whether De La Hoya needs the tape to protect fragile hands, said, "Yes." According to Roach, De La Hoya suffered a slight fracture of his left hand against Mayweather. However, De La Hoya will be allowed to use up to 1-inch tape for this fight.

Roach said one boxing commissioner asked him if he had been part of something illegal, knowing De La Hoya had used illegal tape in the Mayweather fight, and Roach said, "Yes I was, but so were you."

Roach, commenting on Pacquiao's weight, said, "Little light, but he'll be OK." Roach said Pacquiao weighed 145 1/2 on the Mandalay Bay Hotel scales he was using this week.

De La Hoya, who is guaranteed $20 million for the fight, has been advised in part by legendary trainer Angelo Dundee, a man who can break down a boxer's strengths and weaknesses as well as anyone ever involved in the sport. Dundee trained Sugar Ray Leonard in his title-winning fight against Marvin Hagler, after training Muhammad Ali.

"I noticed with Hagler, every time he would step, he would punch," said Dundee. "I told Ray, 'When he steps, make a move.' Pacman does things like that. We know what he does. Nobody fights like Pacman. He's got his own style; he's an awkward fighter and he's a busy guy. De La Hoya has fought every busy, tough sucker from Mexico. He knows how to fight aggression. His feet is why he'll win."

Dundee said he had never previously crossed paths with De La Hoya and didn't know much about him from a technical standpoint.

"They say Pacman is the best fighter, pound for pound," said Dundee. "Well, when I took this fight, I didn't know De La Hoya, but now that I'm involved in it, I've studied both guys and De La Hoya is a guy who can beat Pacman style-wise. That's what I see. We haven't changed anything with Oscar but we do see things that we can take advantage of in what we see with Pacman, and we'll keep that to ourselves."

Pacquiao, who is guaranteed $11 million, must avoid De La Hoya's potent left hook, which is what Roach has been emphasizing during training. If he can do that, Roach feels De La Hoya doesn't have much of a right hand. Pacquiao said yesterday he feels his speed is the key to the fight, while for De La Hoya, conditioning is always a concern, particularly when going up against an active fighter like Pacquiao. Earlier in the week, De La Hoya said he trained to fight King Kong, but questioned how he'll feel at fight time.

Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com.