De La Hoya Is Ready to Put On the Gloves

When last seen in a boxing scene, Oscar De La Hoya was a mess, his face bruised, his ego damaged, his frame of mind shaky.

It was last June and De La Hoya, having just lost a split decision to Shane Mosley, was spewing anger at the decision, at his sport and even at his promoter, Bob Arum.

After an eight-month hiatus, highlighted by an ugly split with Arum, a long-delayed parting with trainer Robert Alcazar and a whirlwind singing career good enough for a Grammy nomination, De La Hoya returned to the boxing spotlight Wednesday to formally announce his comeback.

“I never retired,” said De La Hoya in a news conference at the St. Regis Hotel in Century City, looking as relaxed and upbeat as he did back in the days when he first became known as the Golden Boy. “I was just on a little vacation to regroup myself and see what I really want to do. What I want to do is to go to 154 pounds and make boxing history and then to go to 160 pounds, which will put me in a class of my own.”

First, De La Hoya will fight one more time at 147 against Arturo Gatti on March 24 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas in a fight to be shown who knows where. De La Hoya is in a legal battle over the validity of his HBO contract.

Also on the dais Tuesday were key players in the new Team De La Hoya.

Out was Alcazar. In was trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr.

Out were representatives of HBO. In were Howard Rose and Charles Glenn, two officials of Univision, the Spanish-language network headed by Jerry Perenchio, De La Hoya’s new promoter.

Out was Arum. In is Perenchio, who was not present, a far cry from the days when Arum would rant and rave at these events, building up his friends and tearing down his enemies, all in the name of inflaming passions and inflating pay-per-view and ticket sales.

Back was Gil Clancy, who had acted as a part-time trainer under Arum but is now working for Perenchio. Clancy said he won’t be involved in De La Hoya’s training.

Expected to join the team is former HBO executive Lou DiBella, who would serve as De La Hoya’s matchmaker.

“We are talking,” De La Hoya said, “but nothing is in stone.”

De La Hoya, showing his jabs are as sharp as ever, took shots at two of his former handlers Tuesday.

Comparing Mayweather, who started with De La Hoya last month, to Alcazar, who had been with De La Hoya since 1992, De La Hoya said, “With all due respect to my past trainers, Floyd Mayweather has taught me more in the last three weeks than I learned in the previous eight years.

“Floyd has shown me combinations I never even thought of. If I don’t keep my hands up, he will knock me out. That’s good. The new fire I have in me is because of Floyd Mayweather.

“I don’t feel Robert Alcazar pushed me hard enough. When I was working with him, it looked beautiful and crisp, but he didn’t push me to the limits.”

In comparing Arum and Perenchio, De La Hoya said, “We are going to show promoters how to promote. A fight should be promoted like a movie. You should see posters and commercials of the two fighters. You should see them on TV until you get tired of them. Always before, you wouldn’t see anything until the week of the fight. That’s not the way a fight should be promoted. Now we have heavy-duty people who are going to make sure that every person in the world hears about my fights.”

Arum is considered one of the two best promoters in the world, along with Don King. Arum has been credited with doing a brilliant job with De La Hoya, earning him over $125 million in the ring and millions more in endorsements, all the while protecting him from dangerous opponents early in his career.