Golden Outlook

By STEVE SPRINGER

May 21, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

LAS VEGAS —

Oscar De La Hoya was hurt. He was dazed, confused, frustrated and angry.

Tough night in the ring?

No, tough days outside the ring.

If life beyond the ropes were as easy as it is inside the ring for the World Boxing Council welterweight champion, who will defend his title Saturday night against Oba Carr at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, De La Hoya would be a happy man.

So what’s not to be happy about when you’re 26 and will have earned about $95 million in purses after this weekend, when you have looks that cause women to throw themselves at your feet and fists that cause men to collapse at your feet, when you have an unbeaten record, a supportive family, legions of rooters, a community that sees you as a role model and a long line of product makers waiting to sign you for endorsements?

And yet with all that, De La Hoya had been acting despondent and downright goofy at times until recently, when he says he finally found the one thing that had eluded him--happiness

The problem, he realized, was not within himself but with those around him. He had too many people whispering in his ear, often at cross purposes. There were his chief advisor, Mike Hernandez; his father, Joel; his promoter, Bob Arum; his trainers, lawyers, publicists, television people, endorsement people, family and friends.

And somewhere in there was Oscar, trying to please them all.

“I have been holding in my emotions for such a long time,” he said. “I am a person who sometimes doesn’t speak up as much as I should. I have stood quiet too many years.

“But now I’m going to make myself happy first, then try to make other people happy.”

Until his recent revelation, De La Hoya seemed to be lashing out at those around him, like a fighter who can’t see his opponent.

He went on a Spanish-language television network and questioned whether Arum, who is largely responsible for putting those millions in De La Hoya’s bank account, was the right man to guide his career and questioned Arum’s integrity.

Arum gave up half the promotional rights for De La Hoya’s last fight--against Ike Quartey in February--and it seemed merely a matter of time until Arum was out altogether.

De La Hoya then went on Spanish television and threatened to retire if Felix Trinidad didn’t sign to fight him in September.

De La Hoya distanced himself from his longtime publicist, Dena duBoef.

He changed trainers and styles as often as he changed girlfriends. First, De La Hoya had Robert Alcazar as a trainer, but De La Hoya was told Alcazar lacked the experience and knowledge to take De La Hoya to the top.

Enter Jesus Rivero, the man De La Hoya nicknamed “the Professor.” Rivero taught him everything from an appreciation of literature to an appreciation of defense in the ring.

Then suddenly, the Professor was flunked by his student, who dismissed him on the advice of his advisors for putting too much emphasis on a defensive style.

Enter Emanuel Steward, one of boxing’s most respected trainers, who was brought in to steer De La Hoya from the finesse game to basic body banging, to take advantage of his power and aggressiveness.

Steward helped De La Hoya make a smooth transition to the style that first catapulted him into boxing’s elite, but Steward, too, was soon gone, another victim of the infighting among De La Hoya’s advisors.

Enter Gil Clancy, a veteran trainer in his mid 70s, who was brought in to fine-tune De La Hoya.

Now De La Hoya is telling people Clancy is gone.

While De La Hoya’s supporting cast keeps changing, so has he in the ring, from the strong puncher to the defensive specialist to the attack mode to last February’s strange performance against Quartey.

Although De La Hoya kept saying that Quartey had perhaps the best jab in boxing, De La Hoya stood in front of him much of the fight, abandoning his brilliant jab, along with the lateral movement and dancing ability that have perplexed so many opponents.

It was De La Hoya’s corner that was perplexed. De La Hoya had to rally to beat Quartey after putting himself in harm’s way.

What was he thinking?

Finally, several weeks ago, De La Hoya started asking himself that same question.

He found that boxing, once the love of his life, wasn’t fun anymore.

“Why am I unhappy even going into the gym?” he asked himself.

Until several weeks ago, Arum said, it “was only 50-50” that De La Hoya would make it into the ring for Saturday night’s fight.

Finally, De La Hoya said, no mas.

No mas to the confusion over the handling of his promotion. He was scrapping his short-lived plans to involve himself in that end of the business and handing the whole thing back to Arum, the man who has masterminded his career.

“I was very confused,” De La Hoya said. “I’m the fighter; he’s the promoter. Let him do his job. He’s the best promoter. I’m the best fighter.”

No mas to the parade of trainers.

“Robert is the one staying with me,” De La Hoya said. “He’s been with me through my whole career. All I need is Robert and my brother.”

No mas to the ever-growing group of advisors.

“All I was thinking about was taking the money and running,” De La Hoya said. “I don’t need a big company. I should have a small company. I have 20 people working for me. I should have only about four people. I am going to have to make some changes after this fight.”

No mas to the cautious approach he took against Quartey.

“I have lost respect among my opponents,” De La Hoya said. “Fighters have been making me back up. I never used to back up.

“What I did in the last round against Quartey [when he knocked Quartey down and took command], that’s the real Oscar. I should have done that from the beginning of the fight. All the instincts of old came out. The old Oscar came out. I finally woke up. I shouldn’t have fought his fight. He should fight my fight. I shouldn’t have to adjust to him. He should have to adjust to me. From now on, I am going back to my aggressive style. And that style is going to shoot me right up to the stars.”

And no mas to any talk about retirement.

“I was talking about retiring at 26,” he said. “How can I retire? I am going to start fresh.”

Arum and Alcazar and DuBoef are all secure in De La Hoya’s corner. But does that mean Hernandez, who along with De La Hoya’s father has had the ultimate say in the fighter’s career, has lost favor?

Perhaps, as the power struggle for boxing’s brightest star continues.

But all have been put on notice that De La Hoya will have the ultimate say in that struggle.

Boxing Notes

The contract has not been signed, but so much progress was made Thursday in negotiations for the proposed De La Hoya-Trinidad fight Sept. 18 that Arum said, “I can’t conceive of the fight not happening at this point.”

Trinidad’s share of the profits under discussion have increased to between $10.5 million and $11 million and a share of the pay-per-view revenue above 850,000 buys.

OSCAR DE LA HOYA vs. OBA CARR

WHEN: Saturday

WHERE: Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas

TV: HBO, 7 p.m.

AT STAKE: De La Hoya’s WBC welterweight title

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

DE LA HOYA’S PROFESSIONAL CAREER

Boxes show result of fight and ending round

1992: KO1, KO1

1993: TKO2, TKO4, TKO4, W8, TKO4, TKO1, KO6, TKO4, KO1

1994: TKO10 (WINS WBO JR. LIGHTWEIGHT TITLE [Jimmie Bredahl]), KO3, KO2 (WON WBO LIGHTWEIGHT TITLE [Jorge Paez]), TKO3, TKO9

1995: W12, TKO2 (RETAINED WBO/WON IBF LIGHTWEIGHT TITLE [Rafael Ruelas]), TKO6, KO2