De la Hoya-Pacquiao ring clash a big possibility, says Schaefer

Some may find it ridiculous, but Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer firmly believes that there is a big possibility that a super-fight between Oscar de la Hoya and Manny Pacquiao could happen in the future.

“I do see a  chance for that. The person who actually came up with the idea is Larry Merchant (HBO commentator), who I consider to be one of the foremost boxing experts today. There is history of smaller fighters moving up and fighting bigger guys. Roy Jones Jr moved up 40lbs or so to fight in the heavyweight division,” Schaefer told SportingLife UK.

“So there definitely is a precedent to that and a possibility that something like that could happen,” added the Swiss banker-turned boxing executive.

Citing similar source, doghouseboxing.com reported that Schaefer said that if ever the fight happens, it could end up as De la Hoya’s farewell bout. De la Hoya plans to have his last fight late this year or in the first quarter of 2009.

Meanwhile, the tickets for Pacquiao’s rematch with WBC super featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico are selling like hotcakes.

“It’s almost sold out, very few tickets remaining. We anticipate it will sell out before fight week. There’s a tremendous amount of interest. Mexicans see that Marquez is their last legend standing after Pacquiao dismantled Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera,” said Schaefer.

Pacquiao will take on Marquez for the second time in the main event of the highly-anticipated “Unfinished Business” card on March 15 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Their first encounter in May 2004 ended in a controversial draw.

So far, Pacquiao has logged in 31 rounds of torrid sparring against Mexicans Rey Beltran, David Rodela, and David Cervantes.

“Everything is absolutely fine and everything is definitely under control,” Pacquiao assured his fans in his regular column entitled “Kumbinasyon” on mannypacquiao.ph and philboxing.com.

Pacquiao said he is very focused on his training despite some distractions arising from confirmed reports he had been short-changed of US$180,000 from his Los Angeles bank account by the second wife of his driver.