De La Hoya May Put Whitaker on His Itinerary

Julio Cesar Chavez apparently is out.

Pernell Whitaker is in.

Promoter Bob Arum, unable to come to terms with Chavez on a multimillion-dollar spring rematch with Oscar De La Hoya at the Coliseum or Rose Bowl, has decided instead to move on to Whitaker, the World Boxing Council welterweight champion. Tentative plans call for De La Hoya to fight Whitaker in May at Caesars Palace.

But in boxing, of course, nothing is definite until the ink is dry on the contract.

The split with Chavez was over money, according to Arum.

“We were talking about $5 million for him,” said Arum, who guaranteed Chavez $9 million for his first bout with De La Hoya last June, a fight that ended with a fourth-round technical knockout victory for De La Hoya. “I offered [Chavez] $6 million to close out the deal. Then he asked in excess of $10 million totally out of the blue.

“He’s more reasonable now. But now he’s going to have to wait in line.”

Arum isn’t removing Chavez from De La Hoya’s dance card permanently.

Far from it.

He will still promote Chavez’s fight Dec. 6 against Mickey Ward in the Lawlor Events Center at Reno. And Arum would like Chavez to fight three more times in anticipation of a September rematch with De La Hoya, should De La Hoya fight and beat Whitaker.

Arum says delaying a Chavez-De La Hoya rematch may make it more attractive.

“Chavez needs to restore his credibility,” Arum said. “He lost none of it with the Hispanics, but they are not the whole world. Right now, Chavez has little credibility with Anglos. Nobody gives him a shot against Oscar.”

Whitaker has one fight already scheduled, Jan. 24 against Diobelis Hurtado. His plans after that will depend on the De La Hoya negotiations.

If De La Hoya does fight Whitaker, it will be for Whitaker’s 147-pound title.

Thinking ahead optimistically, Arum has already talked to WBC President Jose Sulaiman about allowing De La Hoya to keep both the 140-pound super-lightweight title he holds now and the 147-pound crown, should he beat Whitaker.

“It would just be for a little while,” Arum said. “That way, Oscar could still fight Chavez at 140 pounds.”

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Another rematch delayed: It now seems likely that Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson will not stage their much-anticipated rematch March 15. The earliest possible date for a second meeting would be June.

Holyfield, who stunned the boxing world by stopping Tyson on an 11th-round technical knockout earlier this month, has told his handlers that he won’t even discuss his future until early January, that his only concrete plans at this time are to spend the holidays with his family.

That still leaves Tyson with a March 15 date already reserved for a pay-per-view fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. According to promoter Don King, Tyson will go ahead with that date, regardless of Holyfield’s plans.

Like Chavez, Tyson could use a bout before the rematch to restore some credibility. If he doesn’t fight Holyfield, Tyson’s opponent is expected to be Michael Moorer, the International Boxing Federation champion.