By Mark Vester
The super-fight between Oscar De La Hoya and WBC lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao could could be announced by the end of this week, or early next week. Speaking from his celebrity golf outing held on Monday in California, De La Hoya told writer Arash Markazi that he is pushing to announce his next opponent by next week at the latest. De La Hoya's next fight is still scheduled for December 6 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
"I want a big fight," De La Hoya said. "I want to go out with a big bang. I want to make it an event. I want to make it a worldwide event because I want to show the boxing world and I want to show everybody around the world that boxing is alive and well. I want them to say, 'Look at this big event December 6.'"
The guy at the top of De La Hoya's list is Pacquiao. Last week, negotiations exploded when Pacquiao turned down De La Hoya offer of a 70-30 revenue split and told promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank to make a fight Humberto Soto for November - unless De La Hoya agrees to his counter-offer of a 60-40 split.
De La Hoya has a backup opponent of WBC junior middleweight champion Sergio Mora, but Mora has a tough fight ahead against Vernon Forrest on September 13. There is no guarantee that Mora wins or comes out of the fight without an injury, but the biggest issue has to do with the timing.
Even De La Hoya admits to Markazi that a big event for Dec. 6 would need at least two-months of heavy promotion and to wait until the middle of September, hoping that Mora wins, will not give him, HBO, or the promoters enough time to properly promote what is being billed as the final fight of his career. De La Hoya wants a deal before the month of September even hits.
"It would be very difficult," De La Hoya said. "I want something done by next week."
The size difference between De La Hoya and Pacquiao has been a sticking point to many. Pacquiao, who began his career at 106-pounds, would have to move up by two-weight divisions. De La Hoya agreed to to Pacquiao's weight demand of 147, a weight Oscar has not made since 2001. He also agreed to Pacquiao's demand for both fighters to use eight-ounce gloves instead of ten. But he won't agree to anything less than a 70-30 split, which is the same amount that he gave to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last May.
Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach is trying everything he can to make his fighter accept De La Hoya's 70-30 split, which he says is fair considering the amount of money involved. Pacquiao stands to make up $15 million for the fight, by far his largest payday. He would make far less against Soto.
Richard Schaefer, CEO for Golden Boy Promotions, plans to speak with Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum later this week. While the deal is still a 70-30 split, De La Hoya has upped the offer enough where Pacquiao may be inclined to accept. According to Schaefer, the original deal gave Pacquiao a 70-30 split of the revenue up to a certain number of pay-per-views buys and then it went to an 80-20 split. De La Hoya is now willing to give Pacquiao a 70-30 split on every pay-per-view buy.
When the subject came up of facing WBA welterweight champion Antonio Margarito, who is making a big push to take Pacquiao's place - De La Hoya blew it off.
"I say wait in line because there's 20 other guys that want to fight me," De La Hoya.
Send News Tips and Comments To Mark Vester @ boxingscene@hotmail.com
