By Keith Idec

Oscar De La Hoya dismissed rumors of a comeback during a press conference today in Las Vegas to promote the Saul Alvarez-Shane Mosley 154-pound title fight Saturday night.

Without prompting, “The Golden Boy” said he would not consider fighting the winner between the 21-year-old Alvarez (39-0-1, 29 KOs), whom De La Hoya’s company promotes, and the 40-year-old Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KOs, 1 NC), to whom De La Hoya has lost twice.

“The rumors that have been circulating, I’ve been hearing, it’s just rumors, that I’ll be fighting the winner of this fight,” De La Hoya said. “That’s not true. These guys are too difficult for me. This guy here on my left [Mosley] beat me twice already and this guy [Alvarez], I don’t even want to think of facing him.”

De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions has been grooming Alvarez, already a big star in Mexico, as boxing’s next superstar in the United States. He joked later in the press conference that he knew “it was over” for him when he exited a limo with Alvarez in Mexico recently and Alvarez attracted all the attention from fans, leaving De La Hoya standing basically by himself.

The 39-year-old De La Hoya hasn’t fought since Manny Pacquiao dominated him in stunning fashion nearly 3½ years ago in a welterweight fight De La Hoya was heavily favored to win because of his size advantage. De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs) retired after that fight, having won world titles in six weight classes and as the biggest non-heavyweight pay-per-view draw in boxing history.

His May 2007 fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KOs), who’ll face Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30 KOs) in the main event Saturday night at MGM Grand, remains the most successful pay-per-view event in the history of the sport (2.45 million buys).

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com.