De La Hoya-Mosley Fight Off

The much-anticipated, harshly-debated, long-negotiated, tentatively agreed-upon rematch between Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley is off.

Definitely? Unequivocally? No, because after all, this is boxing.

Negotiations between Bob Arum, De La Hoya’s promoter, and Barry Frank, Mosley’s promoter, for a fight Sept. 13 collapsed Monday morning when Mosley asked that his $4.25-million purse be increased by $1.25 million.

Arum refused, declared, “It’s over, done, finished,” and said he’d resume negotiations with Fernando Vargas to step in for Mosley.

De La Hoya, however, was more cautious.

“It’s only February and we’re talking about a September fight,” he said through his business advisor, Richard Schaefer. “Let’s see what happens.”

Two months ago, Mosley, through Frank, agreed to the $4.25 million, $250,000 less than he received in June 2000 when he beat De La Hoya on a split decision at Staples Center. De La Hoya was to get $12 million for the second fight.

But with the contract in hand, Mosley refused to sign it.

Ten days ago, Mosley, who was coming off the first two losses of his career, both to Vernon Forrest, made his debut at 154 pounds against Raul Marquez. The fight was stopped in the third round as a no-decision after two accidental head butts made it impossible for Marquez to continue.

“I stuck with my offer even after the way [Mosley] looked,” Arum said. “And now he comes back with a higher demand? It’s like he has no sense of reality.”

Mosley, however, wasn’t backing down.

“With a $20-million pot, there’s a lot of money left out there,” he said. “He gets $12 million and I get $4 million? That’s not fair. Something is wrong with that and he’s giving me deadlines?

“I would love for the fight to happen, but I guess it is what it is. If Bob Arum says it’s over, there’s nothing I can do about it. But at the end of the day, I beat him. I’m one up on him. If he can live with that, I can live with it too.”

Schaefer, like De La Hoya, isn’t ready to count Mosley out.

“Like any other business, this one is about market value,” Schaefer said. “Oscar is the only guy Mosley can fight and make $4 million. Oscar has five or six other guys he could fight and make that kind of money.

“Professionally, this is the only fight which makes sense for Mosley, and financially this is the only fight which makes sense for him. If Mosley fights Oscar and wins, he’s back. And even if he loses, he’s still 1-1 with Oscar and, if it’s a good fight, maybe there’s a third fight. Or, he could lose against Oscar and still fight the Winky Wrights and the David Santos of the world. But if he fights one of those other guys and loses to one of them, it’s pretty much over. Why take the risk of being out of the Oscar picture?”

Said Mosley’s agent, Jack Tiernan, “Shane is trying to do everything to make the fight happen, but he is the one who has to live with himself.”

The front-runner for De La Hoya-Mosley II was Staples Center, which had offered a site fee of around $7 million.

Michael Roth, spokesman for the arena, said there would be the same interest in De La Hoya-Vargas II. Vargas is currently serving a suspension for testing positive for steroids after his fight against De La Hoya last year, a fight Vargas lost on an 11th-round TKO. Vargas will be eligible to fight in June and has a tentative July date for his next bout. Arum would like to bring Vargas back in November against De La Hoya.

“The schedules are made over the summer for the Lakers, Kings and Clippers,” Roth said. “If we know before the dates are submitted that there is a date we need to hold for a fight, we have the ability to do that. De La Hoya-Vargas would clearly be a priority for us.”