Fight Has Only Started for De La Hoya

When he enters the ring at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on March 24 to face Arturo Gatti, Oscar De La Hoya will be staring into the camera.

But whose camera?

HBO has a contract with De La Hoya for his next four fights, the one against Gatti worth $4.5 million to De La Hoya. But that might not be enough.

De La Hoya’s handlers, emboldened by their surprising legal victory over promoter Bob Arum last month, have put the gloves back on to take on the cable network. They have not pledged to honor the remainder of the HBO contract. In response, HBO officials have gone to federal court in New York, seeking a declaratory judgment that the contract is valid.

It is a conflict that will not last.

When De La Hoya won the right to break his contract with Arum in an L.A. federal courtroom, the boxer did so in order to sign with promoter Jerry Perenchio.

But De La Hoya has no desire to sever his ties with HBO. The network offers the largest cable audience for boxing and its pay-per-view arm, TVKO, is a highly efficient operation.

Nor does HBO have any desire to turn its corporate back on De La Hoya, still the biggest revenue generator among the non-heavyweights and the gatekeeper to the lucrative Latino market.

So what’s De La Hoya really after?

More money. More control.

How shocking.

Perenchio might have been out of boxing for decades, but, as the head of the Univision Spanish-language network, he remains a powerful force in television. It is only natural that he would want to renegotiate the HBO deal to get more money for his fighter and more control specifically over international rights.

Arum is another factor. As the third party in the HBO contract, he is still entitled to a share of the profits, despite the California decision that invalidated his contract with De La Hoya. If Perenchio can get a new deal from HBO, he can cut Arum’s last link to De La Hoya.

“Some people feel the two [the Arum and HBO contracts] are separate,” said Richard Schaefer, De La Hoya’s business manager. “We feel they are linked. We want to clean up the whole mess.”

It could get messier unless a ruling from New York is forthcoming quickly.

Although both sides are under strict orders not to discuss negotiations, HBO sources are putting out the word that they have committed to a movie on the night of March 24 and that it might already be too late to change their schedule to accommodate De La Hoya.

That might be a negotiating ploy for now, but, at some point, it will become true.

As for De La Hoya’s side, they are contemplating going to the Fox network and offering the fight on free television in conjunction with a Univision telecast.

“Maybe the fight won’t be shown at all,” Schaefer said.

Fat chance.

One certainty is that De La Hoya will not fight without a television audience.

Another certainty is that he and HBO will eventually be reunited. Neither side can afford the alternative.

NEW FACE, NEW ATTITUDE

The highlight of Wednesday’s news conference to announce De La Hoya-Gatti was the performance of De La Hoya’s new trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr.

With Arum no longer in the picture and Perenchio shying away from the media, somebody had to generate some excitement for De La Hoya. Mayweather proved to be the one.

“Oscar thought he had a trainer before,” Mayweather said. “Now he knows he has a trainer.

“Gatti is a piece of meat. Gatti fights with his face, not his fists. We are going to put a swivel in his head, hang him upside down and use him as a punching bag.”

It might have been typical pre-fight hype, but Gatti took the remarks personally, questioning both Mayweather, a former welterweight, and his son, Floyd Jr., the World Boxing Council super-featherweight champion, in a verbal battle.

“You got a big mouth,” Floyd Sr., said, “but you are not half the fighter my son is. When Oscar gets through with you, I’ll whip you too.”

So much for those who said De La Hoya might have trouble selling tickets without Arum.

WEIGHTING GAME

De La Hoya maintains this will be his last fight at 147 pounds. Because of problems taking off weight and his desire to get a rematch with Felix Trinidad Jr., who beat him in 1999, De La Hoya is moving to 154.

But he won’t find Trinidad there. The Puerto Rican champion is moving to 160 pounds to fight William Joppy in May.

And the other fighter who beat De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, has no plans to move up from 147 after his March 10 fight against Shannan Taylor, unless it’s against Trinidad.

So it would appear that De La Hoya’s logical opponent for his next pay-per-view blockbuster is Fernando Vargas.

“No,” De La Hoya insisted. “He first has to prove himself. By getting knocked down five times by Trinidad [in their December fight], and getting knocked out, Vargas hasn’t proven anything.

“I think the dollar signs will make Trinidad come down to 154 or will make Mosley come up.”

QUICK JABS

Negotiations are underway for former two-time heavyweight champion Mike Tyson to end his brief retirement--which no one took seriously anyway--and return to the ring in June against Shannon Briggs, possibly in Australia. . . . Vargas is scheduled to fight April 28, perhaps against Wilfredo Rivera, possibly in El Paso.