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De La Hoya to announce decision over PBF TODAY!!!
http://forums.doghouseboxing.com/ind...howtopic=63129
Will De La Hoya retire or fight Mayweather? We'll find out Saturday
Friday, June 09, 2006
By David Mayo
The Grand Rapids Press
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- It's just a hunch that Oscar De La Hoya will announce his retirement and leave Floyd Mayweather holding a bag lightened $750,000 by the pursuit.
None of this can be said with any conviction, save that De La Hoya will announce Saturday at a special media brunch here which option he has chosen, and whether Mayweather's years of yearning to fight him reach fruition.
Granted, we are talking about a boxing retirement. A classic oxymoron. But we also are talking about a different breed in De La Hoya, who never has toyed with the public with pseudo-retirements, in the way Sugar Ray Leonard did in announcing his 1982 retirement by pointing at Marvin Hagler and proclaiming that a fight between them "unfortunately would never happen."
Never lasted five years.
De La Hoya has a similar choice. He can fight the pound-for-pound king from Grand Rapids, or leave a king's ransom on the table.
To say the money isn't important would be foolish. If De La Hoya decides to take the fight, money is at the top of the list of reasons, regardless of his quarter-billionish (give or take a mid-eight-figure pittance) earned through boxing.
There are suggestions that De La Hoya-Mayweather could surpass Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson's record $103 million in pay-per-view sales. De La Hoya would keep a big chunk of that money through base purse, television percentages and his promotional rights.
Yes, the money matters.
Another reason would be the outrageous challenge of De La Hoya retiring -- there's that silly word again -- with a fight against boxing's best.
The third reason, just in case De La Hoya loses, would be to try locking Mayweather into a contract with Golden Boy Promotions. De La Hoya used the same formula in his 2004 loss to Bernard Hopkins to sign the former middleweight champion. And the 29-year-old Mayweather has far more years of productivity ahead.
Still, I suspect De La Hoya already has weighed the reasons for not taking the fight and determined them to be predominant.
One reason is a looming deadline for the proposed Sept. 16 fight. The industry standard is 90 days' lead time for a pay-per-view event, and a non-refundable payment to reserve the date often is required at that point.
You can look at the timing of De La Hoya's decision either way. He could be saying yes just before the soft deadline. Or, he simply could be extending a business courtesy to HBO and Mayweather by announcing his retirement as early as possible.
Still, if contract negotiations have been finalized, then a lot of people are doing a pretty good job keeping the results quiet. And if there is no contractual agreement, or immediate promise of one, that harkens the question of what De La Hoya possibly could announce, if not his retirement.
De La Hoya also is trained by Floyd Mayweather Sr., though they work on a fight-by-fight basis. They have no agreement in place for the proposed fight, although the elder Mayweather tepidly has agreed to work against his son if asked. He hasn't been asked.
There also is the risk.
De La Hoya admits the fight can go either way. But if he never fights Mayweather, he walks away with an enormous bankroll, a growing young family, a prospering promotional company, and few questions about why he declined to finish his career with such a risky fight after years at the game's highest level.
I suspect De La Hoya will decide that challenge -- one of the core reasons he might take the fight -- is not worth the risk. He tried it against Hopkins. He ended up with a good client, but a bad loss.
Every apparent obstacle to the fight has been removed. Mayweather bought out his contract with promoter Top Rank for $750,000 to facilitate negotiations. His estranged father, after waffling, decided he would work with De La Hoya if they can reach terms.
It has taken years to get to this point, closer than ever to De La Hoya vs. Mayweather, or perhaps farther than we think.
One man knows. Finally, he is ready to tell.
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Originally Posted by bigragu
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