Oscar De La Hoya is jerking the chain of Manny Pacquiao.

The Golden Boy, who suffered a brutal beatdown from the Filipino pound-for-pound king late last year that led to his retirement, told ace scribe Michael Rosenthal of The Ring on-line edition that “(Shane) Mosley would crush Pacquiao in a heartbeat.”

“That's why I think it would never happen,” said De La Hoya, whose promotional outfit Golden Boy Promotions (GBP) has Mosley under its banner.

“Mosley is willing to come down in weight and take a smaller share of the pot, which show you he wants to fight the best. Obviously that's an admirable quality.”

De La Hoya suspects that Pacquiao and his trainer Freddie Roach will not settle for Mosley as opponent for a planned Oct. 17 fight.

“I just don't feel Freddie and Manny will do it... Mosley is too big a threat. Was I a risk when I came down to 147? Freddie is smart. He saw something. Was (Ricky) Hatton a risk? Again, Freddie is a smart guy. That's why he's the best.”

“And it's why he's not going to risk his fighter's pound-for-pound status against a real champion like Mosley,” stressed De La Hoya, who was beaten twice by Mosley.

Mosley is luring Pacquiao to a fight with the 37-year-old Southern California native amenable to going down to 144 lbs, agreeable to a 60-40 revenue split in favor of Pacquiao and willing to grant Pacquiao an immediate rematch in the event he wins the match.

Pacquiao will decide who to fight next in the next several weeks with the likes of Miguel Cotto, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez on his radar screen.

If Pacquiao decides to wait until the result of the July 18 fight between Mayweather and Marquez is known, Top Rank chief Bob Arum said he will have no choice but to move Pacquiao's fight to Nov. 14.

Regardless of who Pacquiao picks, Arum said the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas will be the venue.