Q 6

PLAYBOY: Is your fighting based on reflex or intentionality on offense and defense?

Oscar De La Hoya: It's based on reflex. When I'm training up in the mountains for three months before the fight, we work on certain moves we think will present themselves in the ring, and everything just falls in place when we're fighting. I'm not thinking of that certain move in the ring. It just happens instinctively. It's incredible because this person might be throwing a combination of three punches, and automatically I'll know how to block them. Sometimes I'll go back to the corner and say, "Oh my God. How did I do that?" Then you start thinking about the training. The three months of hard work just falls in place. I've found myself sometimes throwing a hard right hand to my opponent's face and he's also throwing one at the same time to my face, and he misses and I hit. I say to myself, How did that happen? We threw the same punch and we're making the same movement. We train to move, let's say, one inch to the left to miss that right hand and it just happens instinctively. If I didn't move that one inch I would get hit, but instincts take over.

Q 7

PLAYBOY: We hear there's a vulnerable spot between the fourth and fifth ribs. If you hit that area, it just blows the wind out of you. True?

Oscar De La Hoya: There's a certain spot that maybe I shouldn't reveal because my next opponent may be reading this. But, yes, there is a certain spot that every fighter has that is weak, and it's the rib cage. Right in the middle, near the stomach, if you connect there at perfect speed and timing the guy won't stand up. It would be impossible for him to continue to fight. It's right below the solar plexus. You get hit there and it's over. It's a body part you cannot protect. We train to have an armored shield all around us. We hit our forearms on walls, we hit the punching bag with our fists, we do neck exercises, we do shoulder exercises. We train every part of the body, but you just cannot build up that spot. You cannot train it. It's always weak.

Q 8

PLAYBOY: Did anyone ever come to the ring dressed preposterously and you laughed?

Oscar De La Hoya: Jorge Paez, he's the clown of boxing. That's what he's known for. His shorts are past his knees and they have 30 different colors. When I was looking at him across the ring, I couldn't help but laugh. You don't want to laugh right in his face or you don't want him to notice that you're laughing, so you're laughing inside and you're thinking, Oh my gosh. I'm going to fight this clown. That fight was funny because he came out like a clown and was joking and bouncing around. I knocked him out in the first few seconds of round two. It was funny because the way I knocked him out, he landed forward and did a whole turn. It was like a somersault. I was thinking, Is he joking around? He's dressed as a clown. Is he trying to be a clown, doing a somersault? But when I saw that he didn't get up for five minutes, I knew he was seriously hurt.

Q 9

PLAYBOY: Outside the ring, what kinds of robes and shorts do you wear?

Oscar De La Hoya: Well, I actually go to the place where Hugh Hefner gets his robes. I love putting on my silk pajamas and slippers. A smoker's jacket. It's pretty cool. There's a shot of me in a smoking jacket at a pajama party at the Playboy Mansion.

Q 10

PLAYBOY: Do you have any advice for someone in a bar fight?

Oscar De La Hoya: Run. Just run. You've got beer bottles flying around, you got the chairs. Just keep your hands up and if you can, run. I'm sure those bottles over the head hurt. I've never experienced one, but I'm pretty sure they hurt.

Q 11

PLAYBOY: Layer by layer, what's in your trunks?

Oscar De La Hoya: In my trunks I wear a protective cup. You've got to protect the jewels. The Hoyas. That's it. You want to be as light as possible inside that ring. No secrets, none whatsoever.

Q 12

PLAYBOY: How good do you feel going into the ring?

Oscar De La Hoya: I actually don't feel good at all going into the ring. I'm so nervous. I'm never scared, but I have butterflies in my stomach, and I have this feeling of getting cold and I start shaking. You have to feel good, because if you don't, then you start thinking, Did I train for the fight? Did I do enough rounds for the fight? Did I run enough miles? I've seen fighters postpone fights on the night of the fight--actually postpone or cancel them. You have to feel good. It's your life in the ring.