By Tom Donelson

 

In one week’s time, Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions lost two championship belts. Just after signing Kassim Ouma to a Golden Boy contract, Ouma got smacked around by Roman Karmazin last Thursday night and lost his IBF junior middleweight title. Then on Saturday night, Bernard Hopkins lost his undisputed middleweight title to Jermain Taylor. Yet, De La Hoya is quickly becoming a player in the business. As for Hopkins, his era was ending soon as he prepared for a career after boxing. And De La Hoya has the chance to promote the rematch, which will gather millions of more dollars for Golden Boy Promotions.

Larry Merchant recently commented that if you can beat De La Hoya, just join him. De La Hoya seemed to be collecting all of those who have conquered him and making them equity partners in his company. First it was Hopkins and now Shane Mosley. The advantage of having a fair amount of headliners associated with the company is that it gives added credibility to Golden Boy. Mosley and Hopkins are both future Hall of Fame fighters, even if they are on the downside of their careers.

Recently, De La Hoya picked up Kassim Ouma, a fighter on the verge of becoming a future star in the junior middleweight division. Under De La Hoya’s guidance, Ouma was going to be pushed as the premier fight of the junior middlweight division, but his loss to Karmazin put a dent in those plans. Ouma, however, is still one of the best fighters in the junior middleweights and he is a serious threat to recapture his title. His loss to Karmazin is a setback but not the end of his career. Karmazin had the fight of his life and used his strength to neutralize Ouma’s speed but Ouma is capable of winning a rematch or recapturing one of the other alphabet titles. Ouma still has star quality and an interesting story to tell about his own struggle as young boy in his native Uganda.

De La Hoya’s Boxeo De Oro is one of boxing’s best shows and every month, he provides HBO with some excellent fights. Oscar’s show is one more advantage to signing with Golden Boy. You get television exposure and the exposure you get is not just with general boxing fans, but the fastest growing demographic- the Hispanic market.

De La Hoya is doing one thing that is revolutionary and history will tell if it will work. He is actively recruiting fighters to help recruit other fighters. By offering Shane Mosley and Marco Antonio Barrera equity in Golden Boy, he is counting on their influence to bring others to the fold. Barrera’s job is to penetrate the Mexican market and bring even more Mexican talent to Golden Boy. Mosley will help Golden Boy gain credibility and trust with established and up and coming African-American fighters.

De La Hoya is comparing his own efforts with the development of United Artists, which began in the 1920’s when actors started their own studio to gain more control over their careers. Hopkins, De La Hoya, Mosley and Barrera are forming their own alliance to reshape boxing in their image while challenging the status quo.

De La Hoya has quietly garnering some talented fighters for his stable as well as some potential stars. Fighters including light heavyweight contender Librado Andrade, middleweight contender Kingsley Ikeke, bantamweight Daniel Ponce-De Leon and junior featherweight Oscar Larios are all part of Golden Boy and certainly will be players in their respective divisions. With the recruitment effort of the superstars and the inducement of television, De La Hoya is in position to succeed in becoming a major force within the business.

With senior citizens Bob Arum and Don King inching closer to the end of their careers, De La Hoya has gained the opportunity to sneak in and is slowly putting himself in position as one of boxing’s future premier promoters.

This weekend was De La Hoya’s showcase and while some of his fighters may have lost, it doesn’t change the landscape in which he operates. Hopkins’ strong showing down the stretch of his encounter with Taylor makes a rematch a necessity, Mosley could be challenging for a welterweight title in the near future and Barrera is seeking to unify his division. De La Hoya has opportunities to cement his company’s claim to the future of boxing and with every passing month, the dream is becoming more of a reality.