GL: There's been a buzz throughout boxing circles that Shane Mosley could be on the verge of signing with you. I've spoken to Mosley and he told me no offers have been made yet. What can you tell us about the Mosley situation? Will there be a third fight? And how interested is Golden Boy Promotions in signing Shane Mosley? "I really think Mosley has my number just like Barrera has Morales's." In other words, Oscar you'd rather promote him than fight him? "If it was up to me that's how it would be, it's a lot less painful."

GL: There's rumors circulating that you may be headed to Puerto Rico to speak with Miguel Cotto and Felix Trinidad soon. Is there any accuracy to that?

ODLH: "No. Those were mis-quotes from a Puerto Rican newspaper. Golden Boy Promotions is interested in fighters that are free agents. If they're free agents then our door is wide open for them to talk to us. We know he (Cotto) is locked in with Bob Arum and obviously we're not going to pursue any talks of business. Obviously, if I want to talk to him as a friend, nobody is going to stop me from doing that, but in terms of business, it's out of the question.

GL: It's been a rough year for Bob though Oscar. He lost you, he lost Hopkins and now Morales lost. He's losing a lot these guys.

ODLH: (laughs quite a bit) "This happens a lot in boxing and we're just happy with what we're doing here at Golden Boy Promotions."

De La Hoya on Pacquiao-Barrera II: "I do know one thing as Barrera's Promoter; he wasn't ready for that fight with Pacquiao. He wasn't focused and he had all his legal problems going on, and then he was evacuated from Big Bear due to forrest fires a couple of weeks before the fight. The rematch, hey, it's a fight that if he wants it, that's what we're going to pursue."

GL: What can you tell us about Oscar Larios's future?

ODLH: "Whoever wants to fight him at 122 or 126, we're ready to talk. And we're going to be very aggressive in forming this big fights for Larios. People saw him against Hussein and I was watching the fight closely, that guy was one tough cookie who could bang hard.

"We're glad that Oscar 'Chololo' Larios can not only bang, but box also. That opened up our eyes and we'll put him in there with anybody right now."

GL: In the past several months, Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank have made several intriguing Latino match-ups. With the evident fall-out between Top Rank and Golden Boy, does it make it any more difficult for you as the promoter to make these intriguing Latino battles?

ODLH: "Actually, our door is wide open to do business with Top Rank in association with. It's no problem. Like I said before, I don't have a problem with Bob or their team. They did a wonderful job for me, but now we're ready to go on our own. If we have to do fights with Bob I would have no problem with it."

GL: I think a fight between Top Rank's Rafael Marquez, if he moves up four pounds, and Oscar Larios would be something really serious.

ODLH: "I like that fight too. If Bob is willing to do business the door is wide open."


GL: I heard some negative remarks were made about Golden Boy Promotions in the Las Vegas Review Journal regarding your dealings with Israel Vazquez and Mike Anchondo. Would you care to clarify that any?

ODLH: "Mighty Mike Anchondo is a pefect example of how we're doing things right. We signed him to a two year deal. After the two years he was a free agent, so he went shopping around and we had the last refusal to see if we could match the bid.

"Amongst ourselves here at Golden Boy we said, 'we cannot match that offer', it was just too much money. So he went with another promoter. That's a perfect example of how we're doing things right. It's like a free agent in any other sport, if some other team is willing to pay a lot more money, let him go.

"With Israel Vazquez it's a very unfortunate situation. This kid, we built him as champion, we got him the world title and we made a lot of moves for him to get that title. He was saying that we didn't live up to our contractual obligations, that's all baloney. I have proof that we've lived up to every contractual obligation.

"He goes and signs with this other promoter, Sycuan Boxing, and he hasn't fought since May I believe."

 

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