MMA News Forums - DeLahoya vs. Pacquiao??

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July 18, 2008

By Dennis Principe

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What was once thought to be a video game fantasy now has the potentials of becoming a reality.

Hall-of-Fame promoter Bob Arum disclosed in a Philippine radio interview Friday morning that initial talks have begun to stage an Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao before the end of the year.

Arum was the main guest of the daily morning radio show “Sports Chat” aired over DZSR 918kHz hosted by this writer where the astute promoter openly talked about the intriguing match-up.

Arum revealed he had discussions with Golden Boy Promotions people and that De La Hoya is looking at four names to choose from for his farewell fight and these are Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Felix Tito Trinidad, Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao.

Arum said Mayweather, Jr., because of his recent retirement and Trinidad, because of his huge weight, are so far out of the picture.

“That leaves two fighters for Oscar to fight on December 6, Miguel Cotto who is fighting next week against Antonio Margarito and Manny Pacquiao,” said Arum “Let’s be very practical about it. At this particular point, Oscar De La Hoya has one more fight left in his illustrious career and that‘s December the 6th.

(Listen to the whole interview thru this link)

Arum said he will discuss everything with Pacquiao as soon as the Filipino four-division world champion arrives in Las Vegas next weekend to watch the Cotto-Margarito fight.

“The decision that has to be made by Manny Pacquiao is, number one, if Oscar decides he would like to fight, whether Manny feels that is a winnable fight because Oscar is bigger and secondly whether the financial remunerations are appropriate,” said Arum.

“Until I sit with Manny and find out Manny’s financial demands and find out what percentage the revenue we can get from a De La Hoya-Pacquiao fight everything is really premature. The point is that we are not discarding our other options as this whole process goes on.”

Arum agrees with Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach that the fight must be done in the welterweight limit of 147. The well-known promoter added that the weight will not be an issue for De La Hoya, his one-time prized fighter.

“I don’t think that would be a problem, as far as Oscar coming down to 147. That is based on my preliminary discussions, that won’t be a problem. In other words if he fought Cotto, if he fought Pacquiao we would do it at welterweight,” added Arum.

Arum at the same time dismissed reports of bitterness between him and De La Hoya in the same show which also included broadcaster Ronnie Nathanielsz as guest co-host.

“That is not true, Oscar is a businessman there is no truth to as far as making the fight or not making the fight. If it makes sense in making the fight, if it can be done on good economic terms that won’t stop Oscar at all. Trust me,” said Arum “When the contracts are drawn up for the fight, if you are a professional you lose that animosity and maximize the revenue with the promotions.”

Thursday morning in the same show Roach revealed his eagerness of seeing his prized ward go up against De La Hoya.

“When I trained Oscar he was just having trouble pulling the trigger and he’s a little bit slow. If Stevie Forbes can hit him as easily as he did, I know Pacquiao will knock him out,“ said Roach.

Roach said he’s been asking around and learned that De La Hoya can fight at 147-lbs if a real worthy opponent is available at that weight.

“I want Manny to weigh-in 140 pounds and then at fight time he’ll be at 145 he’ll have his power and speed. I just don’t see Oscar handling Manny at this point of their careers,“ revealed Roach “Manny told me he’d love to fight Oscar and Oscar has made it public he’d love to fight Manny and I think it’s a big, big fight.”

Pacquiao, who will turn 30 this December, crowned himself four-division champion when he stopped Mexican-American David Diaz inside eight rounds last month to capture the World Boxing Council (WBC) lightweight crown. In that fight Roach stated his delight in seeing his prized ward use his right hand in spectacular fashion.

“That performance is really what sets me to make that decision (to challenge De La Hoya). Because I’ve been working on Manny’s right hand for a long time. Sometimes it was there a little bit, against (Juan Manuel) Marquez it wasn’t there too much,” added Roach.

This would be pretty interesting.