DATE: Thursday, March 6, 1997               TAG: 9703060552

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: BIG BEAR LAKE, CALIF.             LENGTH:   79 lines

DE LA HOYA'S TRAINING CAMP REFLECTS HIS LOFTY GOALS

The twisting, two-lane road to Oscar De La Hoya's mountaintop training camp is like the ones used in sports-car commercials. Turn the steering wheel hard to the left, turn it to the right, try not to look at the edge of the road, where only a gravel curbing separates you from a 1,000-foot tumble down the mountain.

Up, up, up. The climb seems to go on forever, with no end in sight. The vistas of snow-capped mountains are breathtakingly beautiful, but divert your eyes too long and you'll miss a turn and draw your last breath.

The setting is an appropriate metaphor for De La Hoya's boxing career. Up, up, up, with no end in sight.

De La Hoya has reached boxing's mountaintop at just 24 years old. The fight game's fastest-rising star is a multimillionaire with movie star looks and altar boy manners. But he knows that fast money, fast women and other trappings of fame could easily send him careening down the cliff like so many boxers before him. So he keeps his eyes fixed on the road of sacrifice that got him to the top.

That's why De La Hoya has retreated to this small ski resort community at an elevation of almost 8,000 feet. He's built a spacious,

sparkling log home that he helped design here, where he can come to train for fights like the upcoming one with Virginia Beach's Pernell ``Sweetpea'' Whitaker. In the four-car garage out back is everything a fighter needs - a full-size ring, free weights, machines, cardio-vascular equipment, speed and heavy bags, a training room and a sauna.

On a crisp mountain morning, De La Hoya sat on his driveway with a couple of reporters discussing a variety of topics. Among them was his remote training compound, located about two hours from the rugged East Los Angeles neighborhood where he grew up.

``What I like about it is the tranquillity of being up here,'' De La Hoya said. ``I can rest here and just be at peace in the fresh air. It's the perfect place for an athlete to be. Nobody's here to bother me, and I can focus and concentrate on my training.''

There would be no tranquillity on this afternoon. Tuesday was media day in the De La Hoya camp, the one time reporters and photographers would be allowed inside the wrought-iron gates before the April 12 Whitaker bout at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. About 100 radio, print and television media members showed up, representing both English- and Spanish-speaking press outlets. TV and print photographers jostled for position.

Joel De La Hoya, Oscar's older brother and assistant trainer, surveyed the chaos from the deck of the home.

``There's not too many people who can take this all in stride like he does,'' Joel said of his brother. ``When I sit down and think about it, it's amazing what he's done in the past four-five years.''

``The Golden Boy'' arguably has become boxing's biggest star outside of the heavyweight division. De La Hoya was the only American boxer to win a gold medal at the 1992 Olympics, and virtually everything he's touched since has remained the same hue.

De La Hoya will be the challenger for Whitaker's World Boxing Council welterweight title. He is nine years younger and loads less experienced than Whitaker, a six-time world champion. But De La Hoya will rake in $10 million for their fight compared to Whitaker's $6 million to $7 million, depending on pay-per-view sales.

``He's the draw,'' De La Hoya promoter Bob Arum said.

Arum gushed about how De La Hoya improves dramatically every fight.

``I don't see the end of that improvement in sight,'' Arum said. ``I think in two years he'll be better than the fighter who fights Pernell Whitaker April 12. In a way, that's scary.''

De La Hoya has often been called the Sugar Ray Leonard of the '90s. But De La Hoya guaranteed he won't be lacing up the gloves in 2013 when he's 40, the way Leonard did recently in losing by knockout to Hector ``Macho'' Camacho. De La Hoya said he was ``embarrassed'' for Leonard, one of his idols, and promised he will never fight on beyond his prime.

Actually, he plans to quit in his prime to study architecture and to get into the movie business. De La Hoya said he may not be in the ring in the next millennium.

``I already have my plans, my life is set,'' De La Hoya said. ``I want to retire from boxing at an early age. I'd retire probably at my peak.''

De La Hoya believes he still has some climbing to do to get there. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

Oscar De La Hoya

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