By Mark Vester
After the breakdown of the negotiations with WBC lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao, Oscar De La Hoya has turned his attention to next likely candidate, WBC junior middleweight champion Sergio Mora. De La Hoya's fight will still take place on December 6 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
A deal with Pacquiao was close, but the Filipino champion walked away after De La Hoya refused to come down from his demand of a 70-30 split of the revenue. Mora's promoter Jeff Wald confirmed to writer Dan Rafael that he is talks with Golden Boy Promotions and expects to reach a deal by next week.
Of course, Mora has a very tough fight ahead of him with his rematch against Vernon Forrest on the September 13 pay-per-view undercard to Joel Casamayor vs. Juan Manual Marquez. Mora won a close decision over Forrest earlier this year, but many experts predict that Forrest, who was battling weight issues prior to the first meeting, will be a much tougher opponent in the rematch.
"We are in a negotiation," Wald said. "Obviously, the fight is predicated on Sergio beating Forrest again on Sept. 13, but I think we would have our deal firmly in place next week. We've agreed on the initial figures for the fight. The rest of the deal will be whatever Oscar and [Golden Boy Promotions CEO] Richard Schaefer think is fair -- the upside on the pay-per-view, etc. I trust them to be fair with me as they have been in the past. But there's a [minimum] dollar figure that I've agreed on and so has Sergio."
If Mora happens to land the fight with De La Hoya, and wins, he (and Wald) have agreed to give Golden Boy future options.
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