Oscar De La Hoya: "Pacquiao-Margarito is a Mismatch"

Published Wed Oct 20, 2010, 4:00 AM

Lawsuits, personal invective, ego battles...sometimes a fight promoter has to put all that aside and concentrate on just making fights that matter.

When I spoke to Bob Arum on Monday, he mentioned Sugar Shane Mosley as a leading candidate for a Manny Pacquiao bout in May, 2011, if for whatever reason, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Pacquiao can't come to a meeting of the minds.

I'm happy to report that I chatted with Golden Boy Oscar de la Hoya Wednesday afternoon at the Bernard Hopkins-Jean Pascal press conference at Planet Hollywood in Times Square and found Oskie to be equally desirous of putting Shane-Manny together.

"Oh, absloutely," Oscar said, "we love that match. All Arum has to do is to pick up the phone and call or us or maybe he can tweet me.

"It's a great fight because of their styles. Or Manny can pick up the phone if Manny is, as he says he is, his own boss."

As you already know, Pacman's Nov. 13 Cowboys Stadium foe, Antonio Margarito (like Pacquiao, he's Top Rank chattel) has had some angry words back and forth with the Golden Boy.

I asked Oscar if there's anything personal in their back and forth. Or is it that he just sees Margarito as a mismatch for a peak performance Manny?

"Absolutely, it is a mismatch," Oscar said. "It's nothing personal between me and Margarito. We all know how that fight will go, we all know Manny's hands and feet are way too fast for Margarito."

Pascal will defend the world lightheavyweight title he relieved Chadwick Dawson of against Old Man BHop in scenic Quebec City on Dec. 18, a fight which will be screened by Showtime.

Of late, de la Hoya has become an Energizer Bunny hopping to and fro for his company. This was his second Big Apple visit this month.

"I told Richard (Schaefer) just have the plane ready for me and I go," Oscar said. "For this fight, maybe I can learn French, then I will study Japanese or whatever."

Let's see if the Golden Boys and Arum can speak the same language to make Mosley-Pacquiao as decent a fight that can be made aside from the Floyd-Manny dream match.