BROOKLYN--Physically, Oscar de la Hoya looks the part.
Still trim at age 37, the Golden Boy looks like he could go 12 rounds or 18 holes, your choice.
Mentally, well in his mind he's still the Hall Of Fame fighter who set a PPV TV buy rate record of 2.4 million for his losing bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Oscar was at a sweltering Gleason's Gym on a gloomy, overcast Tuesday afternoon with billionaire Bruce Ratner to trumpet the fact that Oscar' company has an exclusive deal with the Barclays Center (which will house the NBA Nets) to promote boxing. GBP plans to build its New York base, with shows in Brooklyn and at the Prudential Center in Newark.I sparred (verbally) with Oscar and my first question was direct.
Who wins if Oscar fought Manny Pacquiao and both were in their primes?
"Whew," de la Hoya said. "Different story."
Putting aside that purely mythical matchup, I asked what Oscar's thoughts are about the Pinoy Idol balancing Congressional duties and his superstar boxer status.
Oscar expressed approval of and high hopes for Pacquaio's political career.
"With politics, I give Manny all the credit in the world for being a Congressman. I don't know if he can balance both careers because it's got to be very difficult but hopefully he can do some good things for his people." de la Hoya said.
Wanting to test ODLH's sense of humor, I reminded him that he tried to juggle a singing career and boxing.
"Yeah, and you see how that turned out," Oscar said, smiling the smile that thrilled so many females when he was boxing's matinee idol.
De la Hoya said he thinks troubled Floyd Mayweather Jr. needs to end his boxing hiatus and get back to business pronto.
"I have not spoken to him but I think Floyd needs to get back to doing what he does best, which is boxing."
Oscar was swarmed by apsiring boxers of all ages and races and he was clearly in his element.
One young fighter peppered him with other mythical match questions. If I heard correctly, one of them was who would've won between Sugar Ray Leonard and Aaron Pryor and I think Oscar tipped Leonard to win it.
Oscar said some have misinterpreted his Broadcasting & Cable interview in which he said boxing needs to have a dominant promoter.
It's not all about Golden Boy swallowing up the minnows or wiping out Bob Arum's Top Rank, de la Hoya said.
"It's what is best for boxing, really. I'm not talking about just now, I mean what's going to be best for boxing 10-15 years from now. It's frustrating when (because of interpromotional bickering) we can get the best fighting the best. That's why I mentioned what the UFC does, their model.
"We just need a different setup than what we have now. We need something better for the fans and for the fighters."
To his credit, GBP CEO Richard Schaefer also gave Pacman props for his political achievement.
"Manny has to be congratulated on that, being a Congressman," Schaefer said. "To be such an accomplished fighter and a Congressman, well I think that brings credit to boxing and all of us can be proud of him doing that."
Rich guy Ratner, who said the total cost of the new arena will wind up at $900 million or so, said he tapped Oscar and his company for some obvious reasons.
"I used to go watch the Ali fights on closed circuit at the movie theaters when I was a kid in Cleveland," Ratner said.
"We open up in July 2012 and I felt that I don't see any downside here. Oscar is an icon of the sport and his company has other boxers as owners as well. They operate transparently and I like that.
"We want to bring boxing back to Brooklyn, maybe create more icons like (Mike) Tyson was. We just feel that Golden Boy is the right company for us to go with."
At the event, Schaefer announced what he called "breaking news," saying that Paulie Malignaggi of Brooklyn had signed with GBP and would henceforth campaign at welterweight.
Malignaggi was in attendance along with GBP boxers Danny Jacobs and Danny Garcia.
(mlcmarley@aol.com)
Source: examiner.com
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