Oscar dela Hoya is wary of the fastest, strongest lefty of the world.

"Manny is a southpaw," said Dela Hoya as he looked forward to the biggest fight of the year on December 6, 2008 at the MGM Grand.

Dela Hoya has fought only two southpaws in his last 21 fights. The last one was on Sept. 13, 1997 when he took on Hector Camacho for the 147-lb title.

Just five months earlier, Dela Hoya fought Pernell Whitaker for the same WBC welterweight crown. The Golden Boy won both matches by unanimous decision.

Camacho stands 5′6 1/2" while Whitaker was a shade smaller at 5′6" flat. Manny Pacquiao also stands at 5′6 1/2 and is also a lefty. He is now rated as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

"In the past the southpaw fighters that I have fought I really haven’t done very well with, so this is not going to be an easy fight," Dela Hoya said a few days back.

Dela Hoya is 5′10 1/2,  a four-inch height advantage against Pacquiao, and with his reach of 73 inches will be longer than Manny’s 67 inches.

"I have no intentions of taking it easy in the gym. I have no intentions of looking for this fight to be easy. I mean this is going to be very difficult.

"Because this will be the strongest, fastest southpaw fighter I’ve to face, and he’s the pound-for-pound champion," he said.