De La Hoya's Legacy in Jeopardy
By Robert Morales
Carlos Palomino is dumbfounded. For the life of him he can't figure out why Oscar De La Hoya would even entertain the thought of fighting Manny Pacquiao.
Palomino, inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2004, was reached at his Los Angeles-area home on Tuesday. He reacted with disgust when the subject of De La Hoya-Pacquiao - which is still very possible for Dec. 6 - was broached.
"It's ridiculous, as far as I'm concerned," said Palomino, who was born in Mexico but has lived in Southern California since he was 10. "Oscar is in a no-win situation. I have no idea why he would want to fight Manny Pacquiao. If he beats him, everybody is going to say, 'What the hell is that all about?' "
Like all critics of this proposed matchup, Palomino noted that Pacquiao began his career at 106 pounds. Palomino said he is not even convinced that Pacquiao is a terrific lightweight. Yes, Palomino said, Pacquiao did move up in weight in June to take David Diaz's lightweight title via 9th-round technical knockout. But Diaz was not considered the top lightweight in the world. That honor would probably go to Nate Campbell.
"He looked pretty good," Palomino said of Pacquiao's win over a slow-punching Diaz. "But they picked the right guy for him. I would like to see him beat some of the other top guys at 135. Juan Manuel Marquez, who I think beat Pacquiao twice, is going to fight (Joel Casamayor) at 135. I would like to see Pacquiao fight Marquez at 135."
If this fight - which would have De La Hoya coming down to welterweight for the first time in more than seven years - materializes, Palomino believes De La Hoya would be doing severe damage to his legacy. Especially if he were to somehow come out on the short end of the stick.
"If he loses to Manny Pacquiao, that takes away from everything he has accomplished," Palomino said. "I have no interest in seeing that fight. I don't know who would be intersted in seeing that fight."
Palomino then spoke of a conversation he had last week with another Mexican-American fighter of some stature - former world-class featherweight/super featherweight Ruben Castillo. Castillo fought four times for a world title. But he lost to Alexis Arguello, Salvador Sanchez, Juan LaPorte and Julio Cesar Chavez.
"I was with Ruben Castillo, who knows (De La Hoya's brother) Joel really well," Palomino said. "And he was like, 'It's unbelievable. I have to call Joel and tell him to knock some sense into Oscar.' "
Palomino, 59, went 27-3-3 with 15 knockouts from 1972-79. After an 18-year retirement, during which he became first a boxing analyst and then an actor, Palomino made a comeback in 1997 at the age of 47 and posted a 4-1 record with four knockouts to finish 31-4-3 with 19 knockouts.
Through it all, Palomino said he has seen the game become all about money and little else.
"As champion, you fought the top guy," said Palomino, who fought for legendary Olympic Auditorium promoter Aileen Eaton on a handshake. "I fought the No. 1 contender four times in the seven title defenses I had. These guys took over, (promoters) Bob Arum and Don King, and it's all been about the postioning and it's all been about the best money fights.
"I think the best fights are not being made. People are looking around and saying, 'Where can we make the most money?' Just like Oscar and Pacquiao. Why isn't Oscar fighting (Antonio) Margarito? That would be the best fight. I think I give him a chance to beat Margarito if he prepares himself well."
De La Hoya-Margarito would be the best fight. But it's one De La Hoya would stand a good chance of losing.
Palomino also talked about another terrific fight that is not being made - Margarito-Paul Williams II. Williams stunned many by taking Margarito's welterweight title belt via unanimous decision in July 2007 in Carson, Calif.
"That would be an intriguing fight because Williams beat Margarito last year and Margarito looked horrible against him," Palomino said. "He looked like he didn't know what to do."
Margarito-Williams II isn't being made because Bob Arum is mad at Al Haymon, Williams' advisor. Arum, who promotes Margarito, said he would never again do business with the Williams camp because of negotiations that broke down for a fight between Williams and another Arum fighter, Kelly Pavlik. Told of this, Palomino just laughed sarcastically.
"Isn't that amazing that a promoter can just stop a fight?" Palomino said. "That is just amazing to me."
Palomino said that if something doesn't change to stop this lunacy, "It seems to me like in four or five more years there won't be any boxing if it stays the way it is."
That forecast might be a little extreme. But Dan Goossen, Williams' promoter, said Tuesday that some kind of metamorphosis must transpire in this regard.
He noted that because Margarito-Williams II is not going to happen - at least not right now - fans are most likely going to be stuck with a rematch between Margarito and Joshua Clottey. Arum said recently that fight could take place in November.
Goossen said he finds it alarming that Margarito won the biggest fight of his career - an 11th-round technical knockout of Miguel Cotto last month - and is not going to be able to exploit that because of boxing's political underbelly.
"Once you get that type of fight and make things happen, great, he beats Cotto," Goossen said. "Now he's got a shot at another major fight and whether it's Bob (Arum) or Margarito or his managers, whoever it is, it doesn't matter who you point the finger at. It's just that they turn it down to fight another fight that nobody is going to care about.
"You have a win like that and you should keep on capitalizing on it. It's like going through the NBA playoffs and when you finally get to the championship series, you veer off and you say, 'Let me have a summer league game.' Or going throuh all the divisional playoffs in baseball and getting that shot at a World Series and going out and playing a triple-A team instead. It just doesn't make any sense."
Interestingly, Goossen offered Margarito $4 million to fight Williams in a rematch. Margarito will never get that kind of dough to fight Clottey. That may show it is not always about the money. But it doesn't make it any easier to take.
De La Hoya-Pacquiao Update
Speaking of De La Hoya-Pacquiao, Richard Schaefer on Wednesday confirmed that an announcement regarding De La Hoya's final foe should be upcoming shortly.
"Today I'm preparing all the different scenarios for Oscar and I'm going to have dinner with him tomorrow night and I think tomorrow night Oscar is going to tell me who it is," said Schaefer, CEO of De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions. "We are probably going to have some kind of announcement in the early part of next week."
Schaefer said he still holds out hope that Pacquiao, who is promoted by Arum, will relent and accept the 70-30 split of the overall revenue - De La Hoya getting the much larger piece of the pie. Schaefer would not, however, talk further about the options if Pacquiao does not agree to the accord. Besides junior middleweight champion Sergio Mora, a third fight with "Sugar" Shane Mosley is a possibility. Schaefer said Margarito is not an option.
Israel Vazquez The Commentator
Israel Vazquez, the super bantamweight champion from Los Angeles via Mexico, has not fought since his second of two victories over Rafael Marquez in March; Marquez won the first fight of their terrific trilogy.
These days Vazquez can be found in Miami, where he is working for Telemundo as an in-studio boxing analyst for the Olympic Games in Beijing. Vazquez's manager, Frank Espinoza, reiterated Wednesday that Vazquez won't fight anymore this year.
"We are looking for him to come back the first part of next year," said Espinoza, who then was asked why he wants Vazquez to take what will amount to at least close to a year off.
"Well, after four brutal fights - including the Jhonny Gonzalez fight (that preceded the three fights with Marquez), I think it takes a toll on the fighter," Espinoza said.
The fight with Gonzalez was in September 2006. The three fights with Marquez were then contested within a year's time, beginning on March 3, 2007 and culminating last March 1.
Espinoza said a fourth fight with Marquez is possible, but that he would not want that to be Vazquez's first fight coming back. He said to throw Vazquez right back into that fire - even with time off - would not make sense because of the vicious nature of that memorable three-fight series.
He would much rather prefer Vazquez to take on someone like Jorge Arce, a fellow Mexican who enjoys big-time celebrity in his country. Arce is a tough hombre, but he would be moving up from 115 to 122 pounds and would probably have a difficult time actually hurting Vazquez
