De La Hoya- Chavez Rematch at Rose Bowl?

As part of a three-fight deal with Oscar De La Hoya that is scheduled to pay the 140-pound champion almost $25 million--numbers that dwarf the purses of any other non-heavyweight--promoter Bob Arum has begun preliminary discussions to stage a rematch between De La Hoya and Julio Cesar Chavez at the Rose Bowl on Dec. 7.

Arum met with Rose Bowl officials in Pasadena on Thursday, and later said that the Alamodome in San Antonio is the only other site under consideration. Las Vegas casinos probably are not an option because most are unwilling to guarantee major site fees in December, a busy booking month.

“I think with the publicity coming out, and tremendous upside, just the great name of the Rose Bowl, all the seats, I would be willing to do it if it could all be pulled off,” said Arum, who says the tickets would be scaled to collect a live gate of $9 million to $10 million.

De La Hoya, who has signed to fight Miguel Angel Gonzalez on Sept. 14 in Las Vegas and possibly welterweight champion Pernell Whitaker in March or April, initially was not interested in a rematch with the man whose World Boxing Council super-lightweight title he took in a fourth-round technical knockout June 7 in Las Vegas.

But, Arum said, De La Hoya was intrigued by the financial possibilities.

“This deal would make him the highest-paid athlete in the world, next to Mike Tyson,” Arum said. “If you include the $9 million he made in the first Chavez fight, this 23-year-old kid could make almost $35 million in a nine-month period.”

Though the first De La Hoya-Chavez fight was on closed-circuit, Arum said he tentatively plans to televise the three fights on pay-per-view.