BIG Oscar De La Hoya Interview

[El Chicano]

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: OSCAR DE LA HOYA
By G. Leon

GL: As always Oscar, I'm honored by the interview request. Let's get right to it, who's decision was it to match Victor Ortiz against Maidana?

ODLH: "Well look, obviously we had different options for Victor. We all wanted Victor to fight for a world title. He's more than ready and prepared to face the top guys. HBO approved Maidana and nobody else.

"He fought Maidana and Victor basically said, he fought a ****** fight. I told Victor this is a guy he should have beat easy. He was just like a Mayorga. A guy who punches hard, is a strong fighter, but one who can be taken apart. Now he's kicking himself in the rear end knowing he should have done that. He let the bright lights and the big events get to him a little and he allowed Mr. Macho to get in the way.

"He made a mistake. He's 22 year old and he made a mistake."

GL: What's more concerning to boxing fans than the strategy or lack thereof he brough to the ring, is the way the fight concluding with him quitting and his post fight interview on HBO. How do you feel about that? Do you think he quit?

ODLH: "Obviously Victor is a very smart and intelligent young fighter. When you're in the heat of the moment after the loss, you say things that come out in the heat of the battle. I spoke to Victor afterwards and he apologized for fighting the wrong fight and making the comments that he made, but it happens. It happens to most great athletes. Look what happened when I lost to Trinidad and Shane, sometimes you let your emotions get the best of you. One thing I know for sure is Victor will be back and he's hungrier than ever, that's for sure. I don't have any doubt in my mind that he's going to take a few days off and go right back to the gym."

GL: Do you think it's fair to label him a quitter? Do you think he will rebound from this loss?

ODLH: "He's definitely going to rebound from it, that's for sure. I know Victor and I was very at ease with myself after talking with him after the fight. The comments he made to me were made by someone who is very focused and determined to become a world champion. I wouldn't label him a quitter, not at all."

GL: You said HBO approved Maidana and only Maidana. Do you think that's a problem?

ODLH: "It goes to show you that us at Golden Boy Promotions, we are not going to baby our fighters. We could make him 100-0 if we wanted to and put him on small PPV shows and keep on fighting him and fool the crowd and fool Victor. We're not building records and looking to keep guys undefeated, we're making fights. We believe in Victor and HBO believes in Victor. We made the fight with Maidana, but we all felt comfortable that he was beatable if he stuck to his game plan and fought the right fight. Victor acknowledges that and he won't make the same mistake again."

GL: Do you think HBO should trust promoters and matchmakers more than their fellow execs?

ODLH: "They want tough, competitive fights and that's fine with us. We believe in our fighters and we believe in their abilities. Obviously other promoters don't. They'll do their small PPV shows to build their fighters up against no competition, but we're not going to do that. We're obviously going make even match-ups and that's what HBO is all about."

GL: Earlier you touched on how easy it would be to make Victor 100-0 and fool the crowd. Now that we've seen the nature of which the fight ended, hypothetically speaking, had he closed the show in round three or four and the story became how lesser fighters were able to deck guys like Trinidad and yourself, but you were able to get up and find a way to win via stoppage and (with that HBO emphasis) SO WAS YOUNG ORTIZ. Would that have been fooling the public?

ODLH: "What happened with Victor was, he was in with a very difficult fighter and he made the mistake of fighting the wrong fight. He got caught with big punches and cut with a devastating right hand. His eye got swollen and there's really no shame in losing to a fighter like Maidana. He's only 22 years old. He'll be able to bounce back and he told me he wants the rematch."

GL: Immediately?

ODLH: "We wouldn't do an immediate rematch. I think it's up to us to get him a couple of fights for him to gain his confidence back to put him in the rematch, but that's the fight that he wants. He knew that he fought the wrong fight. Maidana against anybody at 140 and he'll beat them."

GL: Let's move on to a more positive discussion. I'm sure you're thrilled about being able to reschedule Mayweather-Marquez for Mexican Independence weekend. Tell us all about it.

ODLH: "We're extremely excited. July was going to be a huge event and the rescheduling makes it that much bigger. All of Mexico is going to be behind Marquez and all of the world is going to be behind Mayweather. It's going to be the biggest event of the year and we're excited to be a part of it. It goes to show you how much of an impact we have with these big events. When there's a big event in boxing, Golden Boy is always right there.'

GL: How much better PPV wise does Mayweather-Marquez do in September as compared to July?

ODLH: "Just because of the month alone it's going to add a significant amount of PPV. Our corporate sponsors are ready to go to make sure the fight is marketed around the wrong. That's obviously an advantage we have because of the relationships we've established. History has shown that September, if you have big fight, people are going to watch and we feel September is going to be the biggest fight of the year by far."

GL: Following his masterpiece over Margarito, Mosley has been unable to get any of the fights with the elites that he craves. Why do you think that is?

ODLH: "I think it's obvious nobody wants to fight him. He's the man at 147 and he's the most dangerous fighter at 147. With Manny Pacquiao versus Miguel Cotto, I mean look, Top Rank obviously has their plans with Manny Pacquiao. Bruce Trampler and Bob Arum know what the outcome is going to be, I know what the outcome is going to be...

GL: (cutting in) So what will the outcome be?

ODLH: "Pacquiao is right now young and a guy that Top Rank is protecting and a guy they have big plans for. We all know that fight with Miguel Cotto wouldn't be as dangerous as a fight with Shane Mosley, so that's why they're doing it."

GL: Do you think they'll ever want to make Pacquiao with Shane Mosley?

ODLH: "I personally don't think so because he's too dangerous. They'll be derailing their cash cow. Top Rank has plans obviously and Pacquiao is on top of their list and their going to protect him as much as possible."

GL: What can you tell us about some of the other events Golden Boy has cooking this summer?

ODLH: "We're going to have a triple-header from Houston with Juan Diaz and Malignaggi in the main event. Robert Guerrero will be fighting for a world title on the show and we're going to have Danny Jacobs against somebody. HBO and us are working on approving opponents for him. We're going to have the place sold out in the Toyota Center in Houston and it's going to be a great night of boxing on HBO."

GL: Can you tell us why you think Juan Manuel Marquez will beat Floyd Mayweather Jr?

ODLH: "I just feel that styles make fights. I feel that Juan Manuel Marquez, the style, the guts, the speed and power he has. Obviously Mayweather has been off for two years and that has to effect your timing and confidence and a fighter like Marquez is not going to be a walk in the park. I have to take my hat off to Mayweather for choosing Marquez because he's a very dangerous fighter."

GL: Can you tell us about your new series at the Nokia Theater featuring your young talent?

ODLH: "Oh we're extremely excited. It was a huge success. Versus was extremely excited that they were able to watch competitve fun fights. And it goes to show you that we don't put on no boring one sided fights. We don't put any heavyweights we're trying to build to 50-0. My idea was to keep at 4-8 rounders for the fighters who never get TV time. It's worked for the fighters. It's worked for the sponsors and it's worked for live TV."

GL: Guys like yourself, Mayweather, Jermain Taylor and Cotto were in real fights early, but against guys we've heard of who had seen better days or fought in lower weight classes. I look at you guys as investments that panned out. Making the winnable fights enabled you guys to become superstars. Don't you think that the network have been rushing the young fighters a bit?

ODLH: "We could make handpicked fights all day, but I think the fight fans is tired of that. We want to build up our fighters and build towards the future, but at the same time we don't want to turn off the fans. We don't want to do Latin Fury 30 with good fighters against opponents who are going to take dives. We want to grow the fan base to ensure that boxing is alive forever."

.....to be continued

[El Chicano]

Continued...

GL: Has the thought of boxing again once crossed your mind since your retirement?

ODLH: "No. I'm very satisfied, grateful and content with what I've accomplished. I'm comfortable where I'm at. Believe me that once I get going and start promoting 100% it's going to be very, very soon that things are going to change. Things are going to change because we've only just begun. I want to comment on teh remarks Bob Arum made. What gives him the right to comment on Victor and belittle him. If he doesn't believe in Victor, he has a piece of Victor, let him go. If you're going to belittle him and talk bad about him just let him go. He says he should have fought Peterson, but what kind of fight would that be? Another first round knockout? We're not about that. We're about competitive fights for our fighters."

GL: So you think Oritz would have knocked out Peterson in 1?

ODLH: "Absolutely. In 1 or 2. That's how good Ortiz is. Maidana is, I'm telling you any fighter we put him in with is going to get knocked out."

GL: Will Golden Boy work with Maidana moving forward?

ODLH: "We've spoken to his promoter in Europe and yes, we will be promoting him in the States and put in against competitive fights. He's exciting and he'll beat anybody at 140."

GL: Bernard Hopkins told me he's done fighting. Do you think we'll ever see him in the ring again?

ODLH: "Well, my partners Richard and Bernard have been talking and obviously Richard is one to think big and outside the box, and I'm sure he's got something brewing for the near future. Hopkins can perform till he's 50 if he wanted to. He's anxious to fight and his next move is going to be an exciting one."

GL: The last I heard Ricky Hatton was looking to make his next fight a big one if he decided to fight again. Is that still the case and when might we expect him back in the ring?

ODLH: "It's a matter of the Hatton's deciding who they want to fight. We'll come up with different options. Hatton wants big fights and that's an indication that he's a real fighter and that's what he was born to do. As his promoters here in the States, we're going to work as hard as we can for him and get him the best available deal so he can move on with his career."

GL: Closing thoughts?

ODLH: "We have some exciting fights lined up and announcements for the near future. We're not here to baby our fighers, we're here to match them the right way and make sure that everybody wins. Boxing is a sport where if you have these one sided fights and try to protect your fighters and do little PPV shows against HBO on the same night, it hurts the sport and we're not about that."

[Cotto Rules]

Thanks for the interview.

De La Hoya is a ****** who wears fishnets. He says Cotto is an easy fight for Pacquiao and that his BF Mosley is the hardest fight. That's bullcrap, Mosley got beaten clearly by Cotto who picked him apart, no way mosley is better than Cotto.
The same man who says Pacquiao vs Cotto is an easy fight for a protected fighter, is the hypocrit ******* who says "Mad props for Mayweather, he's fighting JMM the greatest of all time", "Mayweather is in big danger!! He takes a huge risk, JMM will beat him". C'mon who are you tryin to fool Oscar? Mayweather coming from a long layoff takes a tune up fight against the ****in LIGHTWEIGHT champion of the world. And you're acting like Floyd is fighting Vernon Forrest or Paul Williams.

This **** said Hatton was gonna KO Pacquiao, himself became Pacman's ***** and open his dirty ****sucking mouth about everything.

He is a legend and i was a big fan but he has zero boxing knowledge whatsoever and is a crooked man.
Peterson gettin KOed by Ortiz in the first, LMAO it's bull****. Peterson is a great prospect with a great future ahead of him. He's a much better fighter than Maidana and has boxing skills. They picked Maidana because he's a brawler who can't box and can get picked apart easily that's it. It was a hand picked opponent with a title at the end of the fight. Peterson is a very dangerous fighter who doesn't provide a good reward if you beat him but can embarrass you.

Conclusion: Oscar = Shame on You.

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

Thanks for the interview.

De La Hoya is a ****** who wears fishnets. He says Cotto is an easy fight for Pacquiao and that his BF Mosley is the hardest fight. That's bullcrap, Mosley got beaten clearly by Cotto who picked him apart, no way mosley is better than Cotto.
The same man who says Pacquiao vs Cotto is an easy fight for a protected fighter, is the hypocrit ******* who says "Mad props for Mayweather, he's fighting JMM the greatest of all time", "Mayweather is in big danger!! He takes a huge risk, JMM will beat him". C'mon who are you tryin to fool Oscar? Mayweather coming from a long layoff takes a tune up fight against the ****in LIGHTWEIGHT champion of the world. And you're acting like Floyd is fighting Vernon Forrest or Paul Williams.

This **** said Hatton was gonna KO Pacquiao, himself became Pacman's ***** and open his dirty ****sucking mouth about everything.

He is a legend and i was a big fan but he has zero boxing knowledge whatsoever and is a crooked man.
Peterson gettin KOed by Ortiz in the first, LMAO it's bull****. Peterson is a great prospect with a great future ahead of him. He's a much better fighter than Maidana and has boxing skills. They picked Maidana because he's a brawler who can't box and can get picked apart easily that's it. It was a hand picked opponent with a title at the end of the fight. Peterson is a very dangerous fighter who doesn't provide a good reward if you beat him but can embarrass you.

Conclusion: Oscar = Shame on You.

You are crying like a ***** and don't understand PROMOTION of fights. Relax, take a deep breath.......

First off, Mosley is a much more dificult fight for Manny than Cotto. Anyone who understands boxing knows this. This doesn't mean Cotto isn't a good fighter, its just the style match ups that they each pose to Manny.

Mosley is faster and a better boxer than Cotto. I know you don't want to admit that because everytime you see Cotto's tattoo running down the side of his ass you get wet between your legs.

They are two different fighters with two different style but don't you think a boxer like Mosley would be slightly more difficult than Cotto who is going to stand more in front of you? Common ***in sense.....

As far as Peterson, I think Ortiz does destroy Peterson because Maidan is much more experienced and that counts or a lot. He's a seasoned fighter with many rounds under him, Peterson is still just a prospect at this point.

I think you need to understand what a promoter does, he PROMOTES fights. What do you want the guy to say? "NO don't tune in because the fight is going to suck, Golden Boy has nothing to offer and we don't know anything about boxing".........hahaha

Learn soemthing.....

[Cotto Rules]

You are crying like a ***** and don't understand PROMOTION of fights. Relax, take a deep breath.......

First off, Mosley is a much more dificult fight for Manny than Cotto. Anyone who understands boxing knows this. This doesn't mean Cotto isn't a good fighter, its just the style match ups that they each pose to Manny.

Mosley is faster and a better boxer than Cotto. I know you don't want to admit that because everytime you see Cotto's tattoo running down the side of his ass you get wet between your legs.

They are two different fighters with two different style but don't you think a boxer like Mosley would be slightly more difficult than Cotto who is going to stand more in front of you? Common ***in sense.....

As far as Peterson, I think Ortiz does destroy Peterson because Maidan is much more experienced and that counts or a lot. He's a seasoned fighter with many rounds under him, Peterson is still just a prospect at this point.

I think you need to understand what a promoter does, he PROMOTES fights. What do you want the guy to say? "NO don't tune in because the fight is going to suck, Golden Boy has nothing to offer and we don't know anything about boxing".........hahaha

Learn soemthing.....

Blablabla,

How the **** Mosley is a boxer ? Where did you see that?
Mosley ain't a boxer at all. Come on Cotto is a much better skilled boxer than Mosley. Mosley is faster and has better power but Cotto completely neutralised that with better timing, skills and defense. Cotto can fight backwards better than Mosley and can outbox people. Plus he has an underrated jab.
Mosley doesn't have a jab, had trouble dealing with Mayorga's wild attack. If you have trouble with Mayorga's skills you're not a boxer.
Mosley is bad matchup for Pacquiao cause he's as fast, bigger and more powerful. But you can't say his skills are a bigger threat than Cotto's ones.

Yes i understand promoting fights but what he does is LYING like Arum when he said Mayweather was better than Leonard, and now saying Mayweather would get KOed by Pacquiao.
If you can't promote your **** telling the truth, there is something wrong with your ****.
Oscar vs Trinidad was hyped to death because it was a fantastic match up with 2 undefeated and entertaining great fighters. Everything said about the two was true. Same thing with other great match ups like Vargas vs Trinidad,etc...

To put it in a nutshell, Oscar is a thief who wants to fool people and invite them to see mismatches where his business partners wins one sided ****ty fights.
That's why he's jealous Cotto had the fight with Manny. Everybody underestimates Cotto and think Pacquiao will beat him easily but you'll see the day of the fight how one sided it will be. Not the way you expected it to be.

[mellow_mood]

damn perro por fin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! something FRESHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


great find!

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

Blablabla,

How the **** Mosley is a boxer ? Where did you see that?
Mosley ain't a boxer at all. Come on Cotto is a much better skilled boxer than Mosley. Mosley is faster and has better power but Cotto completely neutralised that with better timing, skills and defense. Cotto can fight backwards better than Mosley and can outbox people. Plus he has an underrated jab.
Mosley doesn't have a jab, had trouble dealing with Mayorga's wild attack. If you have trouble with Mayorga's skills you're not a boxer.
Mosley is bad matchup for Pacquiao cause he's as fast, bigger and more powerful. But you can't say his skills are a bigger threat than Cotto's ones.

Yes i understand promoting fights but what he does is LYING like Arum when he said Mayweather was better than Leonard, and now saying Mayweather would get KOed by Pacquiao.
If you can't promote your **** telling the truth, there is something wrong with your ****.
Oscar vs Trinidad was hyped to death because it was a fantastic match up with 2 undefeated and entertaining great fighters. Everything said about the two was true. Same thing with other great match ups like Vargas vs Trinidad,etc...

To put it in a nutshell, Oscar is a thief who wants to fool people and invite them to see mismatches where his business partners wins one sided ****ty fights.
That's why he's jealous Cotto had the fight with Manny. Everybody underestimates Cotto and think Pacquiao will beat him easily but you'll see the day of the fight how one sided it will be. Not the way you expected it to be.

Cotto a better boxer than Mosley....are you serious. I am arguing with a person that doesn't know anything about boxing. I guess because Margarito beat Cotto, he's a better boxer than him, right?

BOXER....Mosley is better than Cotto. Mosley was a very good amatuer, probably the best since DLH to come out of California. Did Cotto beat Mosley? Yes but that doesn't make him a better pure boxer. He's a better fighter at this stage of their career's I agree with that but as a pure boxer, Mosley is better.

As far as DLH being a liar, you don't understand promoting. That's what he's supposed to do, he supposed to sell you the fight. You can call DLH what you want but I guarantee you are not old enough to understand how crooked Arum and King truly are.

One day, when you understand all of this, you will realize that DLH and Golden Boy could be the best thing that happened to boxing and might save the sport and bring it back to it's glory years.

Oscar is putting fights together we want to see. He is signing the biggest names and there's a reason why because he's a former fighter who the fighters he signs relate to. He has the interest of the sport and the fighters in mind. Is he perfect? No but I can't wait to see the day when Arum and King are 100% out of the picture so boxing can get back to where it once was.

[thiefery]

Wish the interviewer would have asked him for a James Kirkland update..

[Cotto Rules]

Cotto a better boxer than Mosley....are you serious. I am arguing with a person that doesn't know anything about boxing. I guess because Margarito beat Cotto, he's a better boxer than him, right?

BOXER....Mosley is better than Cotto. Mosley was a very good amatuer, probably the best since DLH to come out of California. Did Cotto beat Mosley? Yes but that doesn't make him a better pure boxer. He's a better fighter at this stage of their career's I agree with that but as a pure boxer, Mosley is better.

As far as DLH being a liar, you don't understand promoting. That's what he's supposed to do, he supposed to sell you the fight. You can call DLH what you want but I guarantee you are not old enough to understand how crooked Arum and King truly are.

One day, when you understand all of this, you will realize that DLH and Golden Boy could be the best thing that happened to boxing and might save the sport and bring it back to it's glory years.

Oscar is putting fights together we want to see. He is signing the biggest names and there's a reason why because he's a former fighter who the fighters he signs relate to. He has the interest of the sport and the fighters in mind. Is he perfect? No but I can't wait to see the day when Arum and King are 100% out of the picture so boxing can get back to where it once was.

No, Margarito is not a better boxer than him like Castillo was not a better fighter than Mayweather. They used pressure and non stop agression to nullify their opponent's superior skills and speed.
Cotto is the inferior fighter compared to Mosley when we talk about athleticism, speed, power and physical strenght. You agree with that, so how the hell Cotto did beat a superior puncher/fighter if it's not with boxing skills. Watch the fight again and you will see.

I don't care how good he was as an amateur but you still didn't answer to my arguments about Cotto being a more versatile fighter than Mosley.
Defense, jab, body punching, footwork, fighting backwards are all the areas where Cotto dominates Mosley. So he is the superior boxer. Period.

On the other hand, you may be right on the promoting thing with De La Hoya.

[SugarSugar]

If you think Cotto is a better pure boxer than Mosley, your an idiot.