Every time we turn around, Oscar De La Hoya the promoter is signing another famous fighter to some kind of contract.
De La Hoya, over the past couple of years, has signed fellow fighters Bernard Hopkins, “Sugar” Shane Mosley and Marco Antonio Barrera to contracts that also made them partners in De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, a rapidly-growing powerhouse.
Late Saturday night, after Mosley had stopped Fernando Vargas in the sixth round at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, De La Hoya announced he had signed Winky Wright and his new company, Winky Promotions, to a “strategic alliance” contract.
It is not the same kind of contract signed by Hopkins, Mosley and Barrera, who have holdings in Golden Boy. It is nevertheless another solid acquisition by Golden Boy, which will now co-promote Wright’s fights and assist Winky Promotions with its fights.
“Basically, he will be using us as a vehicle to get his company started, and at the same time, we will be helping him promote his fights,” De La Hoya said of Wright, the former junior middleweight champion and another in a recent line of fighters who have ventured into the promotional side of the sport.
“It is not an equity type of deal where we are going to give him (Wright) equity in Golden Boy Promotions,” De La Hoya added.
No, but having Wright adds another big name to an already strong cast at Golden Boy. A day before announcing the signing of Wright, Hopkins referred to what is happening with Golden Boy “as a takeover. … We are young, and we are rich.”
And brash.
For example, De La Hoya was informed Tuesday via telephone that Gary Shaw, Wright’s now-former longtime promoter, had been quoted in a New Jersey newspaper as being perturbed about certain elements of the scenario.
Wright, a few months back, tried to suddenly fire Shaw while Shaw was negotiating Wright’s fight last month against middleweight champion Jermain Taylor, which ended in a draw.
Shaw only ended up co-promoting the fight because HBO said it would not back the fight if Shaw were not included since he had done all of the work on Wright’s behalf.
Shaw knew then it might be his last fight with Wright, but he held out hope that Wright would continue to work with him at least on a fight-by-fight basis. Wright had even given Shaw permission to negotiate for him with HBO for a fall fight.
Shaw was doing that. Unbeknownst to him, De La Hoya and Wright were about to seal their deal during a game of golf. Shaw said he didn’t like being “misled,” and he didn’t like Wright’s lack of loyalty.
And this is what De La Hoya said.
“When you have Manny Pacquiao, when you have Winky Wright, when you have Shane Mosley not wanting to do business with you again, what is wrong with that picture?” De La Hoya said. “Who is wrong and who is right?”
Ouch!
De La Hoya was referring to Pacquiao, Mosley and Wright all having been promoted by Shaw, who now is promoting none of them.
Shaw, reached late Tuesday at his home in New Jersey, was shocked that De La Hoya would rip him in that manner. He quickly pointed out that super bantamweight champion Israel Vazquez and junior lightweight champion Michael Anchondo left Golden Boy because of what they perceived to be unfair offers.
Shaw also noted that De La Hoya twice left his longtime promoter, Bob Arum, as well as television mogul Jerry Perenchio, who briefly promoted De La Hoya during De La Hoya’s first separation from Arum.
“My answer to that is Winky Wright won his fights while under my tutelage, big fights,” Shaw said. “Shane Mosley beat Oscar De La Hoya under me and Manny Pacquiao beat Erik Morales under my banner. It has nothing to do with me losing anybody.
“It surprises me that Oscar would say something like that. I have a lot of comments, but I try to use restraint. I have good karma. I go forward.
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Are you saying that Perenchio is a bad person because you left him to go back to Arum? And if Arum is a bad person, why go back to him? Oscar has had fighters leave him. Does that make Oscar bad?”
No, but all these moves prove De La Hoya has the same fire in his belly as a promoter that he has as a fighter.
His next action will be to hold a summit for fighters so he can educate them on the business of boxing. Managers and promoters will also be able to attend, but De La Hoya said this idea came about because promoters have always exploited fighters.
“Oh, absolutely,” De La Hoya said. “It has happened since boxing started.”
De La Hoya had a message for all up and coming fighters.
“To all of these fighters who are in the Olympic Games, who are you going to sign with?” De La Hoya said. “Are you going to sign with a promoter who has never laced up a glove, or a promotional company that has fighters as partners?”
In other words, fighters can be better trusted, De La Hoya said.
Arum, reached Wednesday in Las Vegas, scoffed at his young adversary.
“Time will tell,” Arum said. “Time will tell because the choice is to sign with promoters who were fighters who laced up the gloves, or to sign with a promoter who actually developed fighters and put them in a position where they were able to make big money.”
Touche!
If not for Arum and the incredible job he did in promoting De La Hoya, making him one of the top earners in boxing history, De La Hoya would not be in this position today.
Gatti-Baldomir
Saturday’s Arturo Gatti-Carlos Baldomir championship fight in Atlantic City might tell us a bit more about Baldomir, who last January in New York City shocked the boxing world by beating Zab Judah to win the World Boxing Council welterweight belt.
Most experts believe Baldomir won that fight because Judah was completely out of focus, looking ahead to a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“I am taking Baldomir very seriously,” said Gatti, of New Jersey via Canada. “He beat Zab Judah. Zab Judah is a much better fighter than I am, but he doesn’t have the heart that I have.
Baldomir won the title in New York, but he’s going to lose it in New Jersey. A victory is guaranteed. Bet the house.”
Gatti, 34, is 40-7 with 31 knockouts. He has won world titles in the super featherweight and junior welterweight divisions. Baldomir, 35, of Argentina, is 42-9-6 with just 12 knockouts.
HBO will televise the fight after it replays last Saturday’s Mosley-Vargas fight. This will be Gatti’s 20th appearance on HBO, behind only Roy Jones Jr., Lennox Lewis, Mosley and De La Hoya.
Luevno-Cruz
Check out the fights Friday night that will be televised by the Spanish-language station Telefutura from Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Conn. Steven Luevano (30-1, 14 KOs)of La Puente will take on Cristobal Cruz (32-7-1, 21 KOs) of Tijuana in the super featherweight main event.
Luevano, 25, is ranked as high as No. 7 by the World Boxing Organization, but as a featherweight.
Robert Morales can be reached at [email protected]
