Suddenly, De La Hoya’s Options Are Plenty After Court Ruling

De Le Hoya-Trinidad II?

De La Hoya-Mosley II?

De La Hoya-Vargas I?

Everybody was a matchmaker Friday in the wake of Thursday’s surprising court decision freeing Oscar De La Hoya from his contract with promoter Bob Arum. When Judge Matt Byrne granted a summary judgment in De La Hoya’s suit against Arum, Byrne flipped the switch on the money machine the boxer has created and opened the flood gates for speculation.

De La Hoya has been carrying the non-heavyweight divisions for several years, his name the only one with enough juice to generate the huge purses normally associated with the heavyweights.

But De La Hoya himself pulled the plug on his lucrative career last June after losing to Shane Mosley, De La Hoya’s second loss in his last three fights.

He turned his back on boxing, opting instead to launch a singing career, and turned his back on Arum in August, suing the man who has guided his pro career nearly since its inception and earned him around $125 million in the ring and millions more in endorsements.

De La Hoya announced that Jerry Perenchio will be his new promoter, but no rival promoter or cable network would touch a De La Hoya fight with the threat of an Arum countersuit hanging over anyone daring to step in while the legal issues remained unresolved.

All that is over now. Arum has said that he will pursue an appeal of Thursday’s ruling--a process that could take a year or more--but will not seek an injunction to prevent De La Hoya’s much-anticipated return to the ring.

So what now?

While all the potential matchmakers were listing their preferences for De La Hoya’s next bout, the people who ultimately will make the decision weren’t talking Friday. Everyone, it seems, was caught by surprise when the ruling was announced.

Richard Schaefer, De La Hoya’s business manager, was tied up in meetings Friday. Officials at HBO, the cable network that broadcasts De La Hoya fights, had no comment until they saw Byrne’s opinion and spoke to De La Hoya.

But this much seems certain: De La Hoya will return to training at his Big Bear headquarters next Friday, will have a tune-up fight in the spring, probably against Arturo Gatti, and will shoot for a blockbuster pay-per-view bout in the fall.

Although he has been gone for only seven months, De La Hoya returns under different circumstances.

His trainer will be different.

The welterweight picture is different.

And perhaps his appeal will be different.

Floyd Mayweather Sr. has replaced De La Hoya’s longtime trainer Robert Alcazar.

Or has he?

De La Hoya still wants Alcazar around to wrap his hands.

Alcazar has clashed with other trainers who have come to camp, but Mayweather says he’s not worried.

“I’ll give it to him off the top,” Mayweather said of Alcazar. “I’ll tell him, ‘Don’t get in my way. I don’t have time for you. I mean business.’ ”

Chase off Alcazar? Good luck

Felix Trinidad, who defeated De La Hoya in 1999, is planning to move up to 160 pounds and is beyond the reach of the 147-pound De La Hoya.

That means De La Hoya’s blockbuster fight will either be a rematch against Mosley, who took De La Hoya’s World Boxing Council welterweight title by split decision, or against Fernando Vargas, who lost at 154 pounds to Trinidad last month.

The more likely opponent is Mosley, but a Vargas bout would have huge appeal, matching two Southern California fighters, who truly dislike each other in a genuine grudge match.

There is no question De La Hoya will come back, but it won’t be easy.

He suffered stamina problems in his two losses. Now he must come back from a seven-month stretch spent largely in a recording studio and on a music tour, with a new trainer trying to wipe out the memory of the two defeats and put the glitter back into the Golden Boy.

De La Hoya surprised legal experts with his victory in court.

Now he will try to surprise boxing experts who question whether he can again be what he once was.