By Rick Reeno
Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya had advised BoxingScene.com that he's very motivated to begin immediate negotiations for a unification between WBC super bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (29-0-1, 17KOs) and WBA/WBO champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (15-0, 10KOs).
"For Leo Santa Cruz, I want to start talks and reach out to Rigondeaux's people. That's the fight that Golden Boy Promotions wants to make. That's the fight Leo wants," De La Hoya told BoxingScene.com.
Santa Cruz recently stated that he requires a purse of "$3 million dollars" for such a fight. In the opinion of Rigondeaux's manager Gary Hyde, Santa Cruz is "overpricing" himself to avoid the fight.
Even De La Hoya will admit the requested figure is high, but it does not discourage him from opening up discussions to make that match.
"Three million is a bit high, but that's why I want to start those talks because that's the fight that has to be made," De La Hoya said.
Santa Cruz is one of the few remaining fighters who are promoted by Golden Boy and managed by Al Haymon.
Earlier this month, Golden Boy and Haymon reached an undisclosed financial agreement where the influential manager walked away with an army of boxers who were fighting under the Golden Boy banner. Those fighters were not contractually bound to Golden Boy. Santa Cruz, who has an actual promotional agreement with Golden Boy, remained.
Santa Cruz told BoxingScene that he still has a year left on his Golden Boy contract. After his contract expires, he hopes to continue his relationship with Golden Boy and has no intention of walking away from their company.
"Everything is exactly the same [between me and Golden Boy in the wake of the Haymon split]. Right now everything is the same. [Haymon] has always been there for me. Ever since I met him, he's always been a nice guy and treated me really good," Santa Cruz explained to BoxingScene.com.
"Golden Boy and Oscar De La Hoya have also been really good to me. I wouldn't want [leaving Golden Boy] to happen. [Golden Boy and Haymon] have both brought me to this level and I owe it all to them."