Nevermind This Fight, Carr Says Bring on De La Hoya

With nothing to lose and only fame and fortune to gain, welterweight boxer Oba Carr launched his campaign to fight world champion Oscar De La Hoya Friday at the Chase Suites Hotel.

Carr, who fights Jesus Gutierrez Monday night at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, spent most of a 40-minute chat with reporters selling himself as viable candidate to fight, and beat, De La Hoya.

“Right now, he doesn’t exactly have anybody to fight him,” Carr said. “When he fights me, it’s going to be a barn burner. It’s going to be my glory.”

Carr’s manager, Tom Loeffler of Mouthpiece Sports, said his boxer is on a short list of prospective De La Hoya opponents and believes a fight with De La Hoya could take place on HBO or pay-per-view as early as September. Loeffler said he hopes signing a promotional contract with Bob Arum, De La Hoya’s promoter, will facilitate a De La Hoya fight.

But before any fight with De La Hoya is set up, Carr (43-2-1 with 27 knockouts) must continue to win and win impressively against the likes of Gutierrez (10-3-1, eight knockouts) of Juarez, Mexico. In his last fight, against Jesus Rodriguez, Carr was knocked down once before winning by knockout in the fifth round.

And Carr is aware that Terry Norris blew a $5-million payday by losing to unknown Keith Mullings.

“I look at that fight as being similar to this one,” he said. “I’ve got to perform.”

The only two fights in which Carr, 25, didn’t perform well enough were against Felix Trinidad and Ike Quartey, who are regarded as two of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world. In December of 1993, Carr was stopped by Trinidad in eight rounds. In October of 1996, Quartey won a 12-round decision from him for the World Boxing Assn. title.

The Quartey fight was Carr’s last for Don King, who was Carr’s promoter for 2 1/2 years.

“I signed two years of my life away when I signed that contract with King,” said Carr, who grew up and still lives in Detroit. “But that time helped me. I had to find out who I wasn’t to find out who I was.”

Eddie Carr, Carr’s father and trainer, said of his son’s time with King: “He didn’t make him a priority and put him in fights before he was ready.”

Now, Carr said he has regained his identity and he’s ready to take on De La Hoya. “Oscar has not seen the pits of defeat,” he said. “He hasn’t been given the angles that I will give him in a fight. His will hasn’t been tested.”

Notes

The Oba Carr-Jesus Gutierrez 10-round main event will begin at 9 and will be proceeded by a 10-round junior bantamweight bout between Joel Luna Zarate (31-2-1, 24 knockouts) of Mexico City and Victor Hernandez (20-13-1) of Culiacan, Mexico. The undercard will begin at 7:15.