SCARY SIGHT : Gonzalez Must Stop De La Hoya to Get Recognition and Respect He Craves

LAS VEGAS —  Asking any trainer about his fighter’s chances in an upcoming bout is like asking a resident of Green Bay who will win this year’s Super Bowl.

In both cases, the words demolish, destroy or decimate are likely to come up in terms of what will happen to the opposition.

All of which ought to scare Miguel Angel Gonzalez.

Because those aren’t the words coming out of the mouth of his trainer, Emanuel Steward, when Steward discusses Gonzalez’s chances against World Boxing Council super-lightweight champion Oscar De La Hoya on Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Steward is worried. Either that, or he’s doing a heck of a psych job for Gonzalez’s benefit.

Steward says his fighter is slow, takes too many rounds to get warmed up and has a lifetime of bad habits to overcome. Oh yeah, and he’s going against one of the best fighters in the world.

Other than that, everything’s great.

“If we can get past four rounds, this could be a real fight,” Steward said. “If we can get this one out of the way, he [Gonzalez] could be a good fighter.”

Right, and if the New England Patriots could just get the Packers out of the way, they could be Super Bowl champions.

Gonzalez has already been a champion, having held the WBC lightweight title, but he says beating De La Hoya would give him something he has craved perhaps even more--recognition in his homeland of Mexico.

If mere numbers were the standard, Gonzalez should already be a national hero.

He has:

--Won 63 of 64 amateur fights.

--Amassed a professional record of 41-0 with 31 knockouts.

--Successfully defended his WBC title 10 times after winning it from Wilfrido Rocha on a ninth-round TKO in Mexico City in 1992. He gave up the title to move up in weight class early in 1996.

--Knocked out 17 consecutive opponents from March 1990 to August 1992.

But always Gonzalez, whose list of opponents was questionable, found himself in the shadow of Julio Cesar Chavez, a Mexican legend who would never fight Gonzalez. And there were others--Ricardo Lopez, Humberto “Chiquita” Gonzalez and Marco Antonio Barrera to name a few--who always seemed to grab the sports headlines in Mexico.

“It has been very difficult,” Gonzalez said through a translator. “I have been in the shadow of an idol in Mexico [Chavez]. But once I beat De La Hoya, I will be recognized. This is it right here. This will be the fight of my life. This is where I will mark my place in history.”

Most fighters with a belt around their waist and not a blemish on their record would think they had already made their mark in history. They would figure that if they made enough noise and piled up enough victims, the world would eventually come to their doorstep.

But not Gonzalez. If the world would not come to him, he would go around the world in search of improvement and recognition.

He moved to Japan in late 1990 and spent nearly a year honing his skills.

“I learned a lot about training methods there,” Gonzalez said. “I was honored to be accepted there. I consider Japan my second motherland.”

The additional schooling showed in the ring. While in Japan, Gonzalez fought five times, won all five by knockout, and became world ranked for the first time.

But his schooling was only beginning. When his longtime mentor, Pancho Rosales, died, Gonzalez turned to veteran trainer Abel Sanchez. And when he was faced with the challenge of beating De La Hoya, Gonzalez added Steward to his corner.

It would be natural to think that Sanchez would be jealous over the addition of Steward, but Sanchez insists that is not so.

“If you have a football team with two plays,” Sanchez said, “you can defend against them. But if you have a football team with 10 plays, it is hard to defend against them.”

But before Steward could start adding plays to Gonzalez’s attack, the veteran trainer had to start with a few basics, such as getting Gonzalez to take his shoes off.

Steward and Gonzalez hooked up only six weeks ago, after the De La Hoya-Gonzalez fight had been postponed because of an injury to De La Hoya’s left shoulder. A veteran of more than 30 years as a trainer, Steward, the man so long identified as the mastermind behind Thomas Hearns, is known for engineering upsets. Steward, 52, was in Evander Holyfield’s corner when Holyfield beat Riddick Bowe in their second meeting and in Oliver McCall’s corner when McCall beat Lennox Lewis.

Steward could see right away that Gonzalez was going to require some extra attention.

First, there was the matter of the shoes. Gonzalez wore a style of tennis shoe into the ring. Steward insisted Gonzalez wear boxing shoes. Gonzalez resisted, but Steward won.

Then, there was the matter of wrapping his hands. Steward wanted Gonzalez to do it a certain way. Gonzalez resisted, but Steward won.

Next, there was the matter of the gloves. Gonzalez liked 14-ounce gloves. Steward wanted him to switch to the 16-ounce variety. Gonzalez resisted, but Steward won.

“I had my doubts,” Steward said. “That first week was difficult. He gave me a lot of resistance. But I love this kind of a challenge.”

Included in the training program was a two-week trip to Steward’s Kronk Gym in Detroit, where he put Gonzalez through an intensive program.

“It’s hard to tell a guy who is 41-0 and 63-1 in the amateurs that everything he is doing is wrong,” Steward said, “but he’s in the big leagues now. He’s not fighting in Mexico. He’s fighting one of the best in the world.

“He looked horrible in the gym, but he’s one of these guys where something good happens when he actually gets into the ring to fight. He’s a natural talent.

“And the most impressive thing about him is his mentality. He is 100% wrapped up in becoming a perfect fighter. He has built up so much frustration over not getting the recognition he feels he deserves.”

Gonzalez showed his dedication in August. At that point, he was training in Big Bear with the De La Hoya fight still set for its original Oct. 12 date. Gonzalez’s daughter, Fernanda Venicia, was about to celebrate her first birthday in Mexico.

Sanchez suggested to Gonzalez, who is very close to his daughter, that he take a quick break from training, fly in for the birthday celebration and then get back to work, taking off no more than a day or two.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Gonzalez said, “until this thing is over.”

Now, at 26, he is one day away from his long-awaited chance to finally show how good a fighter he is.

But it won’t be easy. Just ask his trainer.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Card at a Glance

* SITE: Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas

* WHEN: Saturday. First bell at 5 p.m., first fight on TVKO at 6 p.m.

* BOUTS: Champion Oscar De La Hoya (22-0, 20 KOs) vs. Miguel Angel Gonzalez (41-0, 31 KOs), WBC super-lightweight title fight; champion Konstantin Tszyu (18-0, 14 KOs) vs. Leonardo Mas (23-2, 15 KOs), IBF junior-welterweight title fight; champion Michael Carbajal (44-2, 29 KOs) vs. Mauricio Pastrana (15-0, 13 KOs), IBF light-flyweight title fight; heavyweights Eric “Butterbean” Esch (25-1, 21 KOs) vs. Curt Allen (5-0-1, 3 KOs).