It’s a busy time for Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, who is working feverishly to put the final pieces in place for what looks to be a banner first half of 2008 for his promotional outfit. One of the bouts he is trying to hammer down is the return of Oscar De La Hoya on May 3rd. Bob Arum of Top Rank would tell scribe Robert Morales last Friday that a rematch with Floyd Mayweather was a “done deal.”
But that’s not the case according to the Swiss banker.
“No, in my mind a done deal is a signed deal,” said Schaefer at the Beverly Hills Hotel on Tuesday afternoon, where the opening press conference took place for a fight that has been finalized, the return match between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez on March 15th at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. “There’s nothing signed, there’s currently a lot of negotiations going on, a lot of moving targets. I’ve been working all weekend trying to put the various pieces together. So right now, I’m in the middle of the negotiations for that fight. So as I said, a lot is going on right now, which I really can not talk about because I’m trying to finalize a fight.”
Judging by these comments, you get the sense that De La Hoya-Mayweather II is very close to becoming a reality. Rumors are that the rematch could be coming to Southern California.
“We do have the Home Depot Center on hold for May 3rd,” he would admit, in talking about the soccer stadium that is the home to the Los Angeles Galaxy. “Obviously, Las Vegas has the date open as well. So again, nothing has been confirmed either way.”
Then there is the issue of Bernard Hopkins-Joe Calzaghe, which Schaefer says was about 99.0-percent done for about, “the last month-and-a-half.”
So what’s the hold up?
“I think it’s just a matter of Frank (Warren) and Joe and their team not wanting to pull the trigger for whatever reason,” Schaefer would explain. “The contracts were out, little corrections came back, we sent them back and now I’m being told that I can expect a signed contract. So I do hope that’s going to happen in the next day or so.”
It was speculated that this bout would take place April 12th at the Mandalay Bay on HBO Pay-Per-View, but Schaefer says all of that is up in the air.
“The decision is if it’s going to be live on HBO or if it’s going to be on pay-per-view. So currently there’s a lot of moving targets on that as well.”
Another source would tell Maxboxing that this bout could be taking place on April 19th.
And a couple of retired ‘partners’ of Golden Boy that had announced their retirements will be coming back after all in 2008.
“Shane Mosley is not a retired fighter,” stated Schaefer, “I actually talked to him yesterday; he called me and he does want to continue fighting if the right fight presents itself. One of two names which he mentioned to me, of course, is Mayweather, and a rematch with Miguel Cotto. So I will be talking to Bob Arum today on some thoughts and ideas I had and we’ll see when Shane Mosley’s going to be back.
“Now, if neither one of those fights materializes, there obviously are other names in the 147-pound weight class which certainly make for a good fight, be it a Paul Williams, be it an Antonio Margarito, be it a Kermit Cintron.”
Also expect the return of ‘the Baby Faced Assassin’, Marco Antonio Barrera, who had called it a day after his defeat at the hands of Pacquiao in October.
“Marco Antonio Barrera came to see me last week in the office in Los Angeles and he did inform me that he wants to continue with several more fights, all of which will be promoted by Golden Boy,” Schaefer would say. “So we’re currently looking at possibilities for him. One fight he was interested in was David Diaz. I discussed that with Bob Arum and Bob is not interested in that fight since he would like to see Diaz fight Pacquiao sometime in June, assuming that Pacquiao is going to win.
“I think Bob is making a mistake because I think Pacquiao is going to lose and then I guess we can do David Diaz versus Marco Antonio Barrera.”
MID-WEEK FLURRIES
The March 15th undercard will include WBO featherweight titlist Steven Luevano facing Terdsak Jandaeng and David Diaz in a stay-busy bout….I’ve been told that on March 27th in Dubai that IBF flyweight king Nonito Donaire will face Hussein Hussein….Jr. middleweight Anthony Thompson was given his release by Top Rank….It’s going to be a long eight weeks (at least) for the Lakers without Andrew Kid-Bynum-ite. With his development they were becoming an elite team, without him, they’re just decent at best….Word is that HBO would love to match up Joel Julio and James Kirkland on a ‘Boxing After Dark’ telecast in April or May….Hey, is there anyone more dangerous than Adam ‘Pac Man’ Jones at a strip club?….Is some college program going to do the right thing and hire Norm Chow as their offensive coordinator? He may not be an NFL guy, but he’s the best to have ever put on the headsets as an OC in the college ranks….While the opening press conference for Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez III will be next Wednesday in Los Angeles, the tickets will go on sale the day before, according to promoter Gary Shaw.
