De La Hoya Fight Is Postponed

Oscar De La Hoya, suffering from nagging tendinitis in his left shoulder, has postponed his scheduled Oct. 12 World Boxing Council super-lightweight title bout against Miguel Angel Gonzalez until January, promoter Bob Arum confirmed Tuesday.

An announcement is expected today.

De La Hoya first felt the pain during his September 1995 knockout of Genaro Hernandez, minimized the condition as he pursued his swiftly rising career, but recently has had increased difficultly during sparring.

According to Arum, an examination in Los Angeles on Tuesday, which again confirmed the condition in De La Hoya’s left rotator cuff, sealed the decision to delay the fight, scheduled for Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

De La Hoya, 23, will begin six weeks of therapy before restarting training for the fight, which probably will be moved to the Thomas & Mack Arena in Las Vegas, Arum said.

“It’s getting a little acute, and he’s getting nervous about it,” Arum said. “This should clear it up.”

As he moved up to the 140-pound division for his June bout against Julio Cesar Chavez, De La Hoya began a weight-training program, at one point weighing more than 150 pounds.

“The big relief is that it’s not long term, that if he does the rehabilitation now, the thing will be real strong,” Arum said. “He just has to keep building it up between fights.”

Sources said that though some suggested De La Hoya could fight if he took cortisone shots, that possibility was rejected out of hand.

“He is not fighting hurt,” said one source close to the fighter.

This pushes back De La Hoya’s planned rematch against Chavez, originally scheduled for Jan. 18 at the Coliseum, and puts in limbo Chavez’s bout against Joey Gamache, which was on the De La Hoya-Gonzalez undercard.

The Chavez rematch now is tentatively set for April at either the Coliseum or the Rose Bowl, Arum said.

A potential showdown with welterweight champion Pernell Whitaker, loosely set for April, probably will be delayed until much later in 1997.