Oscar De La Hoya was in a car, on his way into San Francisco where the Golden Gate awaited.
He was pretty sure of that, because on this day alone he and Manny Pacquiao had already done the Houston space center and paid a visit to the Alamo, where a boisterous crowd sprinkled liberally with female admirers waited patiently in the hot sun for his arrival.
``The women are still coming out in flocks,'' De La Hoya said. ``My wife is not happy about it, but I still have it.''
De La Hoya chuckled when reminded that there was once a time years ago when promoters had to go out and find women to scream at his press conferences in Las Vegas to try and build a buzz for his fights. There's no need for that anymore because he does have it, even though at the age of 35 he's getting to where he has to figure the screams can't be coming that much longer.
The looks are still there, even as the boxing skills are fading. They're enough to draw the young women to the Alamo and enough, De La Hoya hopes, to get them and their significant others to dig deep for some cash in bad economic times to watch he and Pacquiao fight on Dec. 6.
``We're extremely optimistic we're going to have a huge event,'' De La Hoya said. ``We're going to create an event people will be curious to watch.''
If past numbers are any indication, the curious will buy in. They usually do when De La Hoya is fighting, even if all he has to sell them anymore is his dazzling smile and their memories of what he once was.
Just to make sure, though, he and Pacquiao are on a whirlwind tour of iconic national sites that brings back memories of the kind of events that big fights once were when boxing was king.
They stood together in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, rode elevators to the stop of the Sears Tower and posed with an astronaut suit in Houston. The Alamo followed, and then there was Saturday's rally beneath the Golden Gate.
It didn't always go as planned - in Chicago the media was far more concerned with the plight of the Cubs and White Sox to pay much attention. But through it all De La Hoya promoted the fight so relentlessly you would think he his already swollen bank account depended on it - which it does.
``These sites are landmarks and that's what dreams are all about,'' he said. ``It fits perfectly with the fight.''
De La Hoya might be right about the Alamo, because there are people who think Pacquiao has about as much chance against De La Hoya as Davy Crockett had against the Mexican army. The Filipino is an exciting and sometimes brilliant fighter, but De La Hoya towers over him and Pacquiao will likely be giving away at least 20 pounds by the time the two finally get into the ring at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Indeed, this is an easy fight to criticize, and not just because Pacquiao began his pro career at 106 pounds and just a few months ago was fighting at 130. Boxing has a long history of fighters moving up in weight to challenge bigger guys, so while it's a stretch for Pacquiao to move up to 147, it's not unheard of.
The real problem, if there is one, is that while De La Hoya wants to fight at 147 pounds, he doesn't want to fight the tough guys in that division like Antonio Margarito, Paul Williams or even Miguel Cotto. Those fighters would have been a tough match for De La Hoya in his prime, and at his age he doesn't want to risk either his looks or his brains against big punchers who are his size or even bigger.
That being said, there's no reason he has to.
De La Hoya hasn't beaten a top opponent since he stopped Fernando Vargas six years ago, but he's still the only fighter who can sell out arenas and make huge purses every time he steps into the ring. Half fighter, half promoter, he can still seduce those women and their significant others to put up 50 or 60 bucks to watch him fight on TV without having to take a big risk.
Boxing purists may cringe, but when fight time comes they're usually watching, too.
That's why De La Hoya won't retire after this fight, despite promising repeatedly before that there was no way he would fight past the end of this year. Win or lose against Pacquiao, there will be another opponent to pick, another story to sell, and another fight to promote.
Why quit now, when the women are still coming and the money is still flowing.
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Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlbergap.org
