By Mark Vester

Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya spoke with BroadCasting Cable about a potential Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao mega-fight. In the opinion of De La Hoya, the fight will happen at some point. He feels there is too much money involved for Mayweather to walk away from the fight. If De La Hoya had to guess, the fight will happen early next year.

"I believe so. My philosophy is Mayweather just fought two or three months ago. Floyd is saying, "I just made $65 to $70 million in two fights. Why am I going to rush to fight again; why should I be pushed? I will fight when I want." We feel that early next year, first quarter of next year, we are optimistic it will happen. It has to happen. Floyd knows it's the biggest fight out there, and they don't call him "Money Mayweather" for nothing," De La Hoya said.

A lot has been said about Mayweather avoiding the Pacquiao fight because deep inside he has a "fear of losing his perfect record." Some of those close to him have said that his record means a lot more to him than money. De La Hoya gives Mayweather the nod to beat Pacquiao, easily. He doesn't deny that Mayweather likely has a deep fear of losing that perfect record.

"He probably does have fear in losing. He does have fear in having that one loss, and probably thinks people will not accept him anymore. But all the experts know that Floyd will outbox [Pacquiao], probably easily. Styles make fights, and Floyd is a special fighter inside the ring. Outside the ring is a whole other story," De La Hoya said.