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Oscar De La Hoya's last fight is scheduled for Dec.6. An early Christmas present for boxing would be his swan song coming against three-time welterweight world champion Antonio Margarito of Tijuana.
Forget it, said Richard Schaefer, CEO of De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions. Schaefer said Thursday he is going full-steam ahead with negotiations for a fight between De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao, Margarito's 11 th-round stoppage of Miguel Cotto last Saturday notwithstanding.
It's an interesting scenario, one in which De La Hoya could be setting himself up for ridicule. It was pointed out to Schaefer that many in boxing will say that De La Hoya is running from the man - Margarito - who viciously beat Cotto, who was the man.
They are going to say that rather than dare to be great and go out by fighting someone who would be favored to beat him and could really hurt him, De La Hoya is going to take on a fighter who only recently moved up to lightweight (135 pounds); De La Hoya has won a world title at as high as middleweight (160).
Schaefer said during an animated telephone interview that Team De La Hoya will pay no mind to critics. If they don't like De La Hoya-Pacquiao, Schaefer said, they can lump it.
Schaefer said he and Bob Arum, who promotes Pacquiao and Margarito, will parlay about De La Hoya-Pacquiao on Wednesday. That fight would be contested at the 147-pound welterweight limit.
"We are going to sit down and see if we can put the fight together with Pacquiao," Schaefer said. "Oscar is not going to fight Margarito. I think Margarito has a lot of other fights and a lot of other challenges he should take care of."
Paul Williams, for example. Schaefer noted that Margarito lost a world title to Williams a year ago last month.
"I read some of the stories after Saturday's fight and suddenly everybody is saying that he (Margarito) is the man at 147," Schaefer said. "And I think that is very disrespectful of Paul Williams. I think Margarito should go and avenge his defeat to Paul Williams and then he would be the No. 1 guy in the division."
Eric Gomez, matchmaker at Golden Boy, echoed those sentiments.
"It's kind of strange for a fighter who won a big fight to want to fight Oscar when he has a chance to avenge a loss to a fighter who beat him," Gomez said.
Marylyn Aceves, a publicist working for Williams' promoter, Dan Goossen, said Friday that Goossen has made an offer to Margarito to take on Williams in a rematch.
Goossen promotes Williams.
That said, it's not so strange Margarito would want to fight De La Hoya instead of Williams. Margarito, 30, knows that a fight with De La Hoya would get him his biggest payday by far. Gomez admitted that.
Prior to Saturday's fight, Arum said De La Hoya, a Mexican- American, told him he did not want to fight someone of Mexican ancestry in his farewell fight. But at Saturday's postfight news conference, Arum spoke in hopeful tones following Margarito's superlative showing at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Sure, Arum promotes both Margarito and Pacquiao and he makes out like a bandit either way. But he suggested Margarito's performance might be enough to lure De La Hoya into that particular trap.
"The parameters have changed," Arum said. "It's a different ballgame now. Something happened tonight that changed everything."
Nothing has changed, said Schaefer, who said De La Hoya not fighting Margarito is about one thing - business.
"We didn't consider Margarito because we think Margarito has one big win now, against Cotto," Schaefer said. "I heard it was a great performance. But just because you win one big fight, that doesn't mean all of a sudden he is going to become the opponent in Oscar's next fight.
"Pacquiao has steamrolled over all the opponents over the past few years, except for maybe one, Juan Manuel Marquez (against whom Pacquiao is 1-0-1). Look what Pacquiao's done to Marco Antonio Barrera, to Erik Morales, to David Diaz. We just think it's a different level. I don't want to take anything away from Margarito. But one is a star and the other one is a superstar.
"If you have an opportunity to put two superstars together like De La Hoya and Pacquiao, it would not be prudent to not pursue it."
This is a different level, all right. Margarito at 5-foot-11 is every bit as big as De La Hoya, who is 5-102, is the best pound-for-pound fighter today. But he's so much smaller than De La Hoya.
To those who question De La Hoya's heart, and that in Pacquiao he won't be picking on someone his own size, Gomez points out that De La Hoya has "fought everybody," including Bernard Hopkins. Schaefer put it another way.
"If anybody is going to say Oscar is going to avoid anybody, they should just get lost," Schaefer said. "Those are just the Oscar haters. If people don't want to watch this fight, who cares? Don't watch it. If Oscar goes and fights King Kong, they are still going to talk (expletive)."
Forget it, said Richard Schaefer, CEO of De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions. Schaefer said Thursday he is going full-steam ahead with negotiations for a fight between De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao, Margarito's 11 th-round stoppage of Miguel Cotto last Saturday notwithstanding.
It's an interesting scenario, one in which De La Hoya could be setting himself up for ridicule. It was pointed out to Schaefer that many in boxing will say that De La Hoya is running from the man - Margarito - who viciously beat Cotto, who was the man.
They are going to say that rather than dare to be great and go out by fighting someone who would be favored to beat him and could really hurt him, De La Hoya is going to take on a fighter who only recently moved up to lightweight (135 pounds); De La Hoya has won a world title at as high as middleweight (160).
Schaefer said during an animated telephone interview that Team De La Hoya will pay no mind to critics. If they don't like De La Hoya-Pacquiao, Schaefer said, they can lump it.
Schaefer said he and Bob Arum, who promotes Pacquiao and Margarito, will parlay about De La Hoya-Pacquiao on Wednesday. That fight would be contested at the 147-pound welterweight limit.
"We are going to sit down and see if we can put the fight together with Pacquiao," Schaefer said. "Oscar is not going to fight Margarito. I think Margarito has a lot of other fights and a lot of other challenges he should take care of."
Paul Williams, for example. Schaefer noted that Margarito lost a world title to Williams a year ago last month.
"I read some of the stories after Saturday's fight and suddenly everybody is saying that he (Margarito) is the man at 147," Schaefer said. "And I think that is very disrespectful of Paul Williams. I think Margarito should go and avenge his defeat to Paul Williams and then he would be the No. 1 guy in the division."
Eric Gomez, matchmaker at Golden Boy, echoed those sentiments.
"It's kind of strange for a fighter who won a big fight to want to fight Oscar when he has a chance to avenge a loss to a fighter who beat him," Gomez said.
Marylyn Aceves, a publicist working for Williams' promoter, Dan Goossen, said Friday that Goossen has made an offer to Margarito to take on Williams in a rematch.
Goossen promotes Williams.
That said, it's not so strange Margarito would want to fight De La Hoya instead of Williams. Margarito, 30, knows that a fight with De La Hoya would get him his biggest payday by far. Gomez admitted that.
Prior to Saturday's fight, Arum said De La Hoya, a Mexican- American, told him he did not want to fight someone of Mexican ancestry in his farewell fight. But at Saturday's postfight news conference, Arum spoke in hopeful tones following Margarito's superlative showing at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Sure, Arum promotes both Margarito and Pacquiao and he makes out like a bandit either way. But he suggested Margarito's performance might be enough to lure De La Hoya into that particular trap.
"The parameters have changed," Arum said. "It's a different ballgame now. Something happened tonight that changed everything."
Nothing has changed, said Schaefer, who said De La Hoya not fighting Margarito is about one thing - business.
"We didn't consider Margarito because we think Margarito has one big win now, against Cotto," Schaefer said. "I heard it was a great performance. But just because you win one big fight, that doesn't mean all of a sudden he is going to become the opponent in Oscar's next fight.
"Pacquiao has steamrolled over all the opponents over the past few years, except for maybe one, Juan Manuel Marquez (against whom Pacquiao is 1-0-1). Look what Pacquiao's done to Marco Antonio Barrera, to Erik Morales, to David Diaz. We just think it's a different level. I don't want to take anything away from Margarito. But one is a star and the other one is a superstar.
"If you have an opportunity to put two superstars together like De La Hoya and Pacquiao, it would not be prudent to not pursue it."
This is a different level, all right. Margarito at 5-foot-11 is every bit as big as De La Hoya, who is 5-102, is the best pound-for-pound fighter today. But he's so much smaller than De La Hoya.
To those who question De La Hoya's heart, and that in Pacquiao he won't be picking on someone his own size, Gomez points out that De La Hoya has "fought everybody," including Bernard Hopkins. Schaefer put it another way.
"If anybody is going to say Oscar is going to avoid anybody, they should just get lost," Schaefer said. "Those are just the Oscar haters. If people don't want to watch this fight, who cares? Don't watch it. If Oscar goes and fights King Kong, they are still going to talk (expletive)."
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