As a Fight Fan, He’s More of a Matchmaker

I never thought much of Shane Mosley, a nice guy, but not the same fighter as Oscar De La Hoya, so I never quite understood how Mosley beat the Golden Boy -- until Wednesday.

“I’m sitting there in my corner in the Staples Center after the eighth round in my fight with Mosley,” De La Hoya explained, “and I look over to the side, and there she is -- Salma Hayek.”

We both paused to take a deep breath.

“I lost my concentration after that,” De La Hoya said. “And lost the fight.”

Now that Salma is no longer dating Edward Norton, I presume she’ll need an escort to the Mosley-De La Hoya rematch Sept. 13 at the MGM in Las Vegas, and I’ll do what I can to get us seats out of the way so he’s not distracted again.

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THE TIMES invited De La Hoya and promoter Bob Arum to lunch Wednesday, so I took advantage of the opportunity to ask De La Hoya if he could knock any sense into the Dodgers.

“There’s still hope ... I’m not giving up on them,” De La Hoya said. “Isn’t Fernando Valenzuela coming back?”

It was going to be a long lunch.

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THEY TELL me the first fight between De La Hoya and Mosley in 2000 was a humdinger. I was there, but the only thing I remember is it being dull, and Bill Maher being there with an attractive woman, and politically incorrect as it might be to say so, she seemed a little out of his league.

“You thought the fight was dull?” De La Hoya said in disbelief, and I suppose I could have jabbed him and said, “And you thought Fernando Valenzuela was pitching again for the Dodgers?” but then what if he jabbed back?

I’ve never understood the fascination with watching two thugs beat the heck out of each other. I mentioned this to De La Hoya to loosen him up.

“My wife is the same way. She says, ‘why don’t you each talk to each other?’ You know, it’s actually like hockey,” he said, and that’s where he lost me again.

Arum took time long enough to drop his fork to say there are only 700 tickets remaining for the Sept. 13 rematch, so some people must think something exciting is going to happen at the MGM.

“Revenge,” said De La Hoya, who begins serious training for the fight today at his Big Bear encampment. “That’s what I’m thinking about. This guy beat me and it can happen again and that’s my motivation. Every time I look at his picture I remember that.... I have his picture hanging on my wall in my bedroom.”

I said that’s corny. He agreed, and without any hint of embarrassment or shame, he also said he watched one of the “Rocky” movies recently, and by the sound of it, this guy needs to get a life.

“Shane and I are good friends, but inside there’s a little voice saying, ‘I’m going to beat you.’ I think about him all day; it’s actually stressful,” he said, which makes you wonder why he just doesn’t take that picture down. “There isn’t a day that goes by I don’t think about him. He took something from me that I had for a long time. He beat me, he actually beat me. I don’t lose sleep over it, but I have to beat him.”

I wonder if Andy Ashby approaches each opponent the same way...

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THE DAUGHTER counts De La Hoya as one of her favorite athletes. She went to Notre Dame, so you can understand why she had to go looking for someone in a down-and-out sport to cheer for on a regular basis.

She fell for the charm and the cheesy grin when the Golden Boy weighed in against Fernando Vargas, and became a De La Hoya boxing fan after watching the brawl from high up in the arena. Secretly, I think she also likes him because he’s so short and feisty, and in her mind imagines him dressed as the Leprechaun and roughing up obnoxious Trojan fans. She is my daughter, after all.

But wait until she hears the tough guy, who has also started a boxing promoting business with the idea of improving the image of the sport, is also one of the most generous athletes in the Los Angeles area intent now on giving something back to the community -- beginning with $1 million. She’ll want me to buy her a ticket for the Sept. 13 rematch. She’s just like her mother after all.

De La Hoya not only donated the money, but an expensive piece of land as well, and ground was broken Wednesday on a public high school in Boyle Heights, which will be named after him, and which will sit alongside the gymnasium he already has provided for local youngsters.

“Forget the titles and everything,” De La Hoya said. “When the kids get their diplomas, it will read: ‘Oscar De La Hoya High School’ on them. This is something big ... this is about leaving a mark in L.A., and helping people.”

Now how do you make fun of an athlete, who is already king of his sport, a good guy, and a philanthropist, as well? I’d suggest popping in one of his CDs.

“You weren’t a very good singer, isn’t that what people said?”

I got the feeling from the look De La Hoya gave me that Mosley’s picture will soon have company.

“Was I a good singer?” De La Hoya said, while looking around the room.

It wasn’t surprising to me the room went silent.

“You want me to sing for you right now?” he shot back, and let me tell you, I have no idea what kind of show he’s going to put on against Mosley this time, but the guy sure knows how to clear out a room.

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LIKE I said, you can never count the Dodgers out.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from Terence Hayter:

“I’m glad Dan Evans came to town. With the departure of Lavin and Toledo, I was afraid you might get bored.”

They haven’t closed down USC -- have they?

T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com