Earlier today, three-division world champion "Sugar" Shane Mosley held a chat session to answer questions from his fans. While much of the talk centered around his upcoming clash with Ricardo Mayorga, several other questions were asked regarding other fights like Pavlik-Hopkins, Mora-Forrest II and Clottey-Judah to name a few. The most intriguing questions, however, revolved around the much talked about clash between Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao.
"How do you see an Oscar and Manny fight playing out," one fan would ask. "I think Oscar is too big for him, but I dont think that fight is going to happen," Mosley would reply. Given the recent breakdown in negotiations over the purse split, Mosley's response appears to be a simple an honest assessment regarding the fight. Later on during the chat, another fan would ask, "Shane, with you being a partner with Golden Boy Promotions, do you think a future fight with The Golden Boy is out of the question?" Mosley answered, "I can't really answer that question. His last fight is supposed to be with Mayweather. You never know in boxing."
Huh? Wait a minute? Did I just read that right? His last fight is supposed to be with Mayweather? Was that a Freudian slip or did Mosley just let the cat out of the bag?
Since Mayweather announced his retirement on June 6th, Oscar De La Hoya has had a difficult time securing an opponent for his anticipated final fight on December 6th. "This will be Oscar's career finale and we want to make it a big, big event," Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer revealed when they first began looking for a new opponent. Originally, there were talks of a possible fight with Ricky Hatton, but after a tougher-than-expected win over Juan Lazcano in May, Team Hatton passed on the opportunity, saying Hatton wouldn't be ready to fight on September 20th, the original date of the proposed Mayweather-De La Hoya rematch.
De La Hoya then set his sights on the previously undefeated WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto, but those plans were ruined on July 26th when Antonio Margarito defeated him in impressive fashion, stopping Cotto in the 11th round of an action-packed battle. Given his performance and crowd-pleasing style, one would think that Margarito would naturally become the frontrunner to land the fight with De La Hoya, but Bob Arum, promoter of both Margarito and Cotto, revealed that Oscar wasn't interested in fighting a Mexican in his last fight. "He won't fight another Mexican in his last fight. I tested him on that. I asked about [Julio Cesar] Chavez Jr., which would be his easiest test. He said no. The Mexicans would hate him," Arum stated.
With Mayweather, Hatton, Cotto and Margarito out of the running, Golden Boy Promotions would begin negotiations for a potential clash with the most exciting boxer on the planet, WBC lighteweight champion Manny Pacquiao. Talks went quickly with both sides agreeing on two of three major stumbling blocks, the weight of 147 pounds and the use of 8-ounce gloves. The only hurdle left...the purse split. De La Hoya demanded 70-30. Pacquiao countered with 60-40. With neither side budging, Team Pacquiao dropped a bombshell and turned down the offer to face De La Hoya. In a statement released on August 13th, Pacquiao stated that the offer from Golden Boy Promotions was "unconscionable hence unacceptable" and his only option was to move on with his career.
Although it looked like the search for De La Hoya's final opponent would continue, it didn't take long for Golden Boy Promotions to find a replacement for the proposed Pacquiao clash. Not even a full day later, it was revealed that De La Hoya was finalizing a deal to face WBC jr. middleweight champion Sergio Mora. It appeared that the fight was virtually a done deal as Mora and his promoter, Jeff Wald, happily agreed to all of Golden Boy's terms, including options on Mora's future fights assuming he were to defeat De La Hoya. Mora need only get past former champion Vernon Forrest in a rematch already scheduled for September 13th.
Of course, that same day, De La Hoya would later come on record and reveal that negotiations with Pacquiao were still ongoing despite the recent statement released by Manny turning down the fight. Freddie Roach, Pacquiao's trainer, still wanted the fight and hoped to convince Manny to change his mind while De La Hoya admitted that their fight was the biggest event that could be made. Perhaps the talk of a potential fight with Mora was just a negotiating ploy to get Pacquiao back to the table. If that's true, is it possible that all of this has just been a ploy to get Mayweather Jr. to reconsider a rematch with De La Hoya? Is Mora, or even Pacquao for that matter, the "big, big event" that Schaefer and De La Hoya were hoping for? Mora definitely isn't! Pacquiao? Maybe a big event, but not a "big, big" event. It's an intriguing matchup, but not the kind that's going to generate the type of money that a "big, big" event brings in. Besides, Pacquiao wasn't even De La Hoya's second or third choice. The silver went to Hatton. The bronze went to Cotto.
The only "big, big" event that's out there...the only gold medal for The Golden Boy is a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr.! Mayweather knows it! Ellerbe knows it! Schaefer knows it! And De La Hoya knows it! That's the fight that they all want! That's the "big, big" event that they're talking about and don't be suprised when that's the final fight of De La Hoya's career. As all of his opponents have discovered, when it comes to battling De La Hoya at the negotiating table, it's usually an early stoppage. For pretty much all of his career, De La Hoya has been the top draw and always commanded the lion's share of the purse. Unlike past opponents, however, Mayweather brings much, much more to the table. With Floyd trained by his uncle, Roger Mayweather, and De La Hoya trained by his father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., Money Mayweather brings a compelling storyline that's straight of the movies. It's much more than a fight. It's a reality show, it's a movie, it's historic...it's a "big, big" event. It's been rumored that Mayweather Jr. has recently been spotted working out at an all-night gym in the early morning hours. In a FightHype interview, Floyd Mayweather Sr. stated, "I did hear that he wanted 50 million dollars. I did hear that and I'm not sure if that was the exact amount, but that's what I heard." Is it possible that De La Hoya and Mayweather have still been negotiating behind the scenes? If what Mosley said during the chat was more than just a Freudian slip, then perhaps the rematch is still on the horizon.
Note to Pacquiao: Just take the 33%! Think of the money. Plus, it's a winnable fight...a tough fight, but winnable. Even if you lose, there's no shame in losing to the much bigger man. Besides, think of the money. And if you win...woooooooooo...another HUGE name on your resume. And did I already mention the money? Personally, I'd much rather see you fight De La Hoya than watch Mayweather shoulder-roll his way to another decision. No offense to his Moneyness of course. I still respect your skills; I'm just not big on watching reruns.