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By Robert Morales , Staff Writer
Ten months have passed since Oscar De La Hoya left Bob Arum and Top Rank Inc. Fences have not been mended.
De La Hoya and his Golden Boy Promotions matchmaker, Eric Gomez, on Monday lashed out at Arum for not wanting to do business with them.
They claim it is partly because Arum is still mad at De La Hoya for leaving him for the second time in their long relationship as promoter and fighter.
De La Hoya and Gomez also indicated that Arum is concerned that Golden Boy is becoming too strong of a rival promotional company, and that he does not want Top Rank to lose strength by losing fights to fighters from Golden Boy.
"We would love to do fights with Top Rank because they have fighters who we can put good fights together with our fighters,' said De La Hoya, president of Golden Boy, which is promoting Saturday's world middleweight title fight between undisputed champion Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
De La Hoya said that his Kassim Ouma, the International Boxing Federation junior middleweight champion, and Arum's Antonio Margarito, the World Boxing Organization welterweight champion, would be a solid matchup. De La Hoya also mentioned such matchups as his Fernando Montiel, the WBO super flyweight champ, against Arum's Martin Castillo, the World Boxing Association champion.
Yet another possibility is Golden Boy's Jhonny Gonzalez against Arum's Rafael Marquez, the IBF bantamweight champion. Last but not least, De La Hoya and Gomez said they tried to make a fourth fight between their World Boxing Council super featherweight champion Marco Antonio Barrera and Arum's Erik Morales, but were turned away.
"These would be great fights,' De La Hoya said. "They don't want to do it. They don't want to do business. Morales doesn't want to fight Barrera again. Barrera would love that fight, but Morales doesn't want to fight him.
"Barrera said, 'Make the fight,' but they don't want to do it.'
After De La Hoya was stopped in the ninth round by Hopkins last September, De La Hoya announced he was leaving Arum and Top Rank for the second time in a relationship that began in 1993. De La Hoya, who has not fought since but is expected to resume his career next year, said he was going to promote the rest of his fighting career.
Along with his move, De La Hoya signed Hopkins to promotional and partnership contracts, completely leaving Arum out of the picture. Arum had promoted De La Hoya-Hopkins and was hopeful of signing Hopkins and retaining De La Hoya, so he was hit with a double whammy.
Gomez said the rift between De La Hoya and Arum is only a piece of this puzzle.
"That's part of it,' he said. "But people in boxing know that Golden Boy is creeping up. We tried making another Barrera-Morales fight. The World Boxing Council said, 'Morales is the mandatory now.' We said, 'OK, let's do it.' But Morales didn't want to do it.'
Morales and Barrera have fought three times, most recently in November, two months after De La Hoya and Arum parted ways. Morales won the first fight, but Barrera has won the past two.
"They (Arum and Top Rank) were so confident they were going to win that (third) fight,' Gomez said. "They're afraid it (pitting Top Rank fighters against Golden Boy fighters) is going to take away some of their leverage.'
Before their split, Arum and De La Hoya had co-promoted events, including that third Morales-Barrera fight. They have not co-promoted anything since.
Arum, on Tuesday from Las Vegas, took some serious shots at De La Hoya. He said none of this is personal. On the contrary, he said, it's just business.
"I have no comment to make,' said Arum, who then went on to make many. "It's ludicrous. We make fights with everyone, including Don King, if it is to the (financial) advantage to our fighters and they're good fights.
"Ouma? Nobody has ever proposed a fight for Ouma. There are a lot of promoters who have fighters who want to fight our fighters because our fighters are prominent box offices foes. First they (Golden Boy) have to learn how to market their own fighters in order to make their fighters box office draws. They haven't been able to do that.'
Arum referred to Ouma, Montiel and Gonzalez as "obscure fighters.'
"If they have a fighter who is a box office draw who wants to fight one of our fighters who is a box office draw, we wouldn't hesitate,' Arum said. "It's only business. Oscar is so spoiled, so childish, so determined to have his own way because that is how it's been all his life.
"You gotta work hard, and not expect that just because he is Oscar De La Hoya, that all he has to do is show up.'
As for a fourth Morales-Barrera fight, Arum said he would like to do that, but not until Morales fights a rematch with Manny Pacquiao, whom he defeated last March.
Arum said that the last Morales- Barrera fight did less than 300,000 pay-per-view buys, whereas Morales-Pacquiao did 350,000. In other words, from a business sense, Morales-Pacquaio is a better fight.
Morales and Pacquiao will fight in separate bouts Sept. 10 at Staples Center. Arum said should both prevail, they will meet in a rematch in December. It could be held at MGM Grand, site of their first fight.
"Now, after Pacquiao, we look around and see that Morales-Barrera is the biggest money fight out there, of course we will do it,' Arum said.
Ten months have passed since Oscar De La Hoya left Bob Arum and Top Rank Inc. Fences have not been mended.
De La Hoya and his Golden Boy Promotions matchmaker, Eric Gomez, on Monday lashed out at Arum for not wanting to do business with them.
They claim it is partly because Arum is still mad at De La Hoya for leaving him for the second time in their long relationship as promoter and fighter.
De La Hoya and Gomez also indicated that Arum is concerned that Golden Boy is becoming too strong of a rival promotional company, and that he does not want Top Rank to lose strength by losing fights to fighters from Golden Boy.
"We would love to do fights with Top Rank because they have fighters who we can put good fights together with our fighters,' said De La Hoya, president of Golden Boy, which is promoting Saturday's world middleweight title fight between undisputed champion Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
De La Hoya said that his Kassim Ouma, the International Boxing Federation junior middleweight champion, and Arum's Antonio Margarito, the World Boxing Organization welterweight champion, would be a solid matchup. De La Hoya also mentioned such matchups as his Fernando Montiel, the WBO super flyweight champ, against Arum's Martin Castillo, the World Boxing Association champion.
Yet another possibility is Golden Boy's Jhonny Gonzalez against Arum's Rafael Marquez, the IBF bantamweight champion. Last but not least, De La Hoya and Gomez said they tried to make a fourth fight between their World Boxing Council super featherweight champion Marco Antonio Barrera and Arum's Erik Morales, but were turned away.
"These would be great fights,' De La Hoya said. "They don't want to do it. They don't want to do business. Morales doesn't want to fight Barrera again. Barrera would love that fight, but Morales doesn't want to fight him.
"Barrera said, 'Make the fight,' but they don't want to do it.'
After De La Hoya was stopped in the ninth round by Hopkins last September, De La Hoya announced he was leaving Arum and Top Rank for the second time in a relationship that began in 1993. De La Hoya, who has not fought since but is expected to resume his career next year, said he was going to promote the rest of his fighting career.
Along with his move, De La Hoya signed Hopkins to promotional and partnership contracts, completely leaving Arum out of the picture. Arum had promoted De La Hoya-Hopkins and was hopeful of signing Hopkins and retaining De La Hoya, so he was hit with a double whammy.
Gomez said the rift between De La Hoya and Arum is only a piece of this puzzle.
"That's part of it,' he said. "But people in boxing know that Golden Boy is creeping up. We tried making another Barrera-Morales fight. The World Boxing Council said, 'Morales is the mandatory now.' We said, 'OK, let's do it.' But Morales didn't want to do it.'
Morales and Barrera have fought three times, most recently in November, two months after De La Hoya and Arum parted ways. Morales won the first fight, but Barrera has won the past two.
"They (Arum and Top Rank) were so confident they were going to win that (third) fight,' Gomez said. "They're afraid it (pitting Top Rank fighters against Golden Boy fighters) is going to take away some of their leverage.'
Before their split, Arum and De La Hoya had co-promoted events, including that third Morales-Barrera fight. They have not co-promoted anything since.
Arum, on Tuesday from Las Vegas, took some serious shots at De La Hoya. He said none of this is personal. On the contrary, he said, it's just business.
"I have no comment to make,' said Arum, who then went on to make many. "It's ludicrous. We make fights with everyone, including Don King, if it is to the (financial) advantage to our fighters and they're good fights.
"Ouma? Nobody has ever proposed a fight for Ouma. There are a lot of promoters who have fighters who want to fight our fighters because our fighters are prominent box offices foes. First they (Golden Boy) have to learn how to market their own fighters in order to make their fighters box office draws. They haven't been able to do that.'
Arum referred to Ouma, Montiel and Gonzalez as "obscure fighters.'
"If they have a fighter who is a box office draw who wants to fight one of our fighters who is a box office draw, we wouldn't hesitate,' Arum said. "It's only business. Oscar is so spoiled, so childish, so determined to have his own way because that is how it's been all his life.
"You gotta work hard, and not expect that just because he is Oscar De La Hoya, that all he has to do is show up.'
As for a fourth Morales-Barrera fight, Arum said he would like to do that, but not until Morales fights a rematch with Manny Pacquiao, whom he defeated last March.
Arum said that the last Morales- Barrera fight did less than 300,000 pay-per-view buys, whereas Morales-Pacquiao did 350,000. In other words, from a business sense, Morales-Pacquaio is a better fight.
Morales and Pacquiao will fight in separate bouts Sept. 10 at Staples Center. Arum said should both prevail, they will meet in a rematch in December. It could be held at MGM Grand, site of their first fight.
"Now, after Pacquiao, we look around and see that Morales-Barrera is the biggest money fight out there, of course we will do it,' Arum said.
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