By Robert Morales

"Sugar" Shane Mosley and Richard Schaefer, CEO of Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, on Friday will meet with HBO executive Kery Davis to see if financial considerations can be worked out for a fight between Mosley and welterweight champion Antonio Margarito. Schaefer and Bob Arum, Margarito's promoter, on Tuesday confirmed that this sit-down will take place in Atlantic City, site of Saturday's fight between Kelly Pavlik and Bernard Hopkins.

As things stand right now, the money is not there to make Mosley-Margarito.

"HBO doesn't have enough money on the table," Arum said. "So it looks like that fight can't happen. If they put more money on the table, I think that fight can happen."

Arum said just last month that if Mosley wanted to fight Margarito, he would have to wait until after the rematch between Margarito and Miguel Cotto that is tentatively scheduled for June.

Arum said that return fight would take place providing Margarito and Cotto win their next fights in January and February, respectively. Arum was asked at the time why Mosley - who is promoted by Golden Boy - would not be considered for Margarito's January fight. Arum's response was that he wasn't sure the money would be there, and that he didn't want to take any real risks that would ruin a rematch between Margarito and Cotto, both of whom are promoted by Arum. But in the days following Mosley's 12th-round technical knockout of Ricardo Mayorga on Sept. 27, suddenly there was talk of Mosley fighting Margarito in January.

So, Arum was asked Tuesday, why did he change his mind?

"Because if there is enough money, I will consider any fight," Arum said. "But there isn't enough money. Everybody agrees on that. To me, unless more money appears, it is a dead letter. It's silly to get excited about something.

"People would like to think a lot of fights can happen, but if there is not enough money. ... There is no blame here; the world is in the middle of a financial crisis. Mosley wants to get what he's used to getting. With Margarito, we have a minimum dollar amount. He wants to get paid at least that, if not more."

Arum would not discuss the specifics of HBO's current offer for this fight. Neither would Schaefer, who said if Mosley-Margarito doesn't come to fruition, there are other possibilities for Mosley.

"Kery, Shane and myself are going to meet Friday and discuss the fight possibilities," said Schaefer, who will be in Atlantic City representing Golden Boy, which promotes Hopkins. "As you know, Shane is the kind of guy who fights anyone. One of the names we're looking at as well is Paul Williams. He's the guy who beat Margarito, so I think that is what intrigues Shane."

Schaefer said that Andre Berto, another of the welterweight champions, is also a feasible opponent for Mosley.

"So there are different names out there and we're going to discuss the whole thing with Shane and HBO," Schaefer said. "It sounds like Margarito doesn't want to fight Paul Williams again. So Shane just might say, 'I'm not afraid of anyone,' and fight Paul Williams."

Dan Goossen, Williams' promoter, said Wednesday that he would love to make Mosley-Williams.

"It certainly is what we would perceive as one of the better fights in the welterweight division that could be made today," Goossen said. "Certainly, Shane could probably beat most of the welterweights out there. Even his fight with Cotto (last November) was back and forth. He's never in a fight where he is thoroughly dominated.

"I may get some argument here, but I believe it is as big, if not bigger, than the Mosley-Margarito fight based on the fact that Williams beat Margarito."

Goossen said there have not been any formal talks about this fight, but indicated he would be monitoring the Margarito-Mosley happenings. If that falls apart completely, Goossen will be ready to strike.

"It's a fight that you need to stay on top of and, obviously, one that, again, I think is one of those can't-miss events for 2009," Goossen said.

Goossen, meanwhile, is still trying to put the finishing touches on a Nov. 29 card at the new Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, Calif. Williams and heavyweight contender Chris Arreola are scheduled to fight in the co-features.

"I need a title for this," Goossen said. "It's gotta be something like, 'It's about time.' I haven't had this much trouble putting together an HBO event, offering the type of money I'm offering and getting people to accept these challenges."

Goossen said he should have opponents for the much-avoided Williams and Arreola any day now. He also said that Mosley would not be in line for Williams for Nov. 29 because it would be too soon for Mosley since he just fought.

Goossen also said that if Margarito-Mosley does not materialize, he would not consider pulling Williams off the Ontario card so he could wait for Mosley to be ready.

Mosley could not be reached for comment. But prior to his fight with Mayorga, Mosley did praise Williams.

"I think Paul Williams is an excellent fighter," Mosley said of the 6-foot-3 southpaw. "I think his height gives him a lot of advantages as a fighter, especially in the welterweight division. I think he is going to be even better at middleweight than he is at welterweight, even though he is great at welterweight."

Arum Speaks in Ominous Tones

The last stop of the Oscar De La Hoya-Manny Pacquiao press tour was a week ago Tuesday in East Los Angeles, where De La Hoya grew up. It culminated an adventure that made historical stops at the Statue of Liberty in New York City, the Sears Tower in Chicago, the Space Center in Houston, the Alamo in San Antonio and Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.

De La Hoya and Pacquiao will square off Dec. 6 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas in a matchup that has taken considerable heat because even though they will meet at 147 pounds, De La Hoya is a true 154-pounder and Pacquiao a 135-pounder.

Arum, who promotes Pacquiao, was asked if he had ever been part of a more impressive tour during his 40-plus years promoting.

"When we did (Marvin) Hagler-(Thomas) Hearns we stopped in 26 cities, so this was nothing compared to that," Arum said. "We were out about two full weeks, so this was relatively easy."

Arum then paused and came with something curious.

"But again, I really have no comment on De La Hoya-Pacquiao," Arum said. "If it happens, it will be a good fight."

Come again?

"A lot of things can happen," Arum said.

When asked if something was in the air, Arum said, "No, I'm just saying. I don't mean it to be ominous."

Schaefer was told of Arum's comments during a telephone conversation Tuesday from Atlantic City. Schaefer assured us that all systems are go for De La Hoya-Pacquiao and that there is nary a problem with the fight.

"He (Arum) might be a bit nervous because Bernard Hopkins is in unbelievable shape," Schaefer said. "He might be a bit nervous about putting Pavlik (who is promoted by Arum) in with Hopkins and Pacquiao in with Oscar.

Pavlik and Pacquiao are two of Arum's top fighters. A loss by Pavlik on Saturday and by Pacquiao in December is not a Christmas present any promoter would want.

Schaefer also suggested making a call to the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, where Freddie Roach is training Pacquiao, to make sure everything was cool. The call was made and Roach echoed Schaefer's sentiments that everything is all good with the fight.

"We just had our first sparring yesterday and I'm getting ready to work the mitts with Manny," Roach said Wednesday about 2:30 p.m. West Coast time.

A Weighty Issue

It was pointed out to Roach that Pacquiao told reporters in East L.A. that he weighed a robust 153 pounds. Roach said that ideally he would like Pacquiao to weigh about 142-144 pounds the day of the weigh-in and then come in at 147 on fight night.

"That is a good fighting weight for him," Roach said. "He still has his speed and power."

The Candy Men

The De La Hoya-Pacquiao news conference in East L.A. took place on Whittier Blvd., the heart of the city and the street that thousands of low-riders and gangsters used to cruise every Sunday night in the 1970s before police shut down the cruising because of violence.

Eric Gomez is De La Hoya's boyhood friend and matchmaker at Golden Boy. After the news conference, Gomez pointed out a small corner liquor store to a reporter.

"That's where Oscar and I used to steal candy from when we were kids," Gomez said, almost embarrassed.

Oh, the shame!

Darchinyan Gets Defensive

Olvera Street, a very famous tourist spot in Los Angeles that has little Mexican shops and eateries along an adobe street, was the spot for Monday's news conference promoting the Nov. 1 super flyweight title unification fight between Cristian Mijares of Mexico and Vic Darchinyan of Australia via Armenia. They will get it on at Home Depot Center in Carson.

The food at the El Paseo Inn was delicious as usual. Everybody was having a good time, the news conference started and the fighters did their obligatory bits at the microphone. Then spokesman Alex Camponovo asked if there were any questions, and Darchinyan (30-1-1, 24 KOs) was asked if it was difficult from a psychological standpoint to get past being knocked out in the fifth round by Nonito Donaire in July 2007.

Darchinyan did not like that one bit. He chastised us "experts" for blowing his only defeat out of proportion.

"After four rounds, I thought he was nothing," an animated Darchinyan said. "I went out in the fifth round to knock him out. I jumped on him and I got caught on the chin. It's an accident. It's boxing, it happens. It was a one-in-a-million chance and he was the million."