"First of all, Antonio Margarito had a great win against Miguel Cotto. That's wonderful for him. I wish him all the best. I've always prided myself on fighting everybody, in fighting the best, from Bernard Hopkins to Floyd Mayweather. I've always wanted to fight the best. I just feel personally that Antonio Margarito has some unfinished business to take care of against Paul Williams. I just felt that it's disrespect to Paul Williams calling Antonio Margarito the best welterweight out there. I mean, we cannot forget about Paul Williams and so that's just the way I feel. When I told my CEO, Richard, make the biggest event possible, well, I think, hands down, we know that Pacquiao is the biggest event," stated Oscar De La Hoya during a conversation with Steve Cofield of ESPNRadio1100 in response to why he's not considering the newly crowned WBA welterweight champion as a possible opponent.
It's an interesting statement from Oscar considering that, before the epic clash between Margarito and Cotto, De La Hoya came on record stating that he'd love to fight the winner in his final fight. Of course, that was before he knew the outcome. After Margarito's impressive 11th round stoppage, De La Hoya would later change his tune, telling promoter Bob Arum that he didn't want to end his career by fighting another Mexican. Apparently, Mexican-Americans don't count as De La Hoya is now negotiating a potential fight with Sergio Mora. Of course, one has to wonder if this is all a negotiating ploy to get Manny Pacquiao to reconsider a potential clash with the Golden Boy. After all, Freddie Roach still wants the fight and is trying to convince Pacquiao to change his mind. Furthermore, according to De La Hoya, negotiations with Pacquiao are still ongoing despite the recent statement released by Manny turning down the fight. De La Hoya, who admits that a fight with Pacquiao is the biggest event that can be made, brings up a good point that, despite what the purse split is, Pacquiao will have to have four or more fights to make the same kind of money. "You don't look at percentages in these revenue splits. You look at the dollar amount; what you're gonna make...sometimes these fighters just don't get it," De La Hoya reiterated.
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