De La Hoya back as GBP prexy, wants Pacquiao-Canelo

MANILA, Philippines – Oscar De La Hoya, the former superstar boxer-turned-promoter, is back as president of Golden Boy Promotions – the promotional outfit he founded – after a brief hiatus due to personal issues.

De La Hoya spoke to Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times about wanting to promote some big fights, even saying he’s willing to reach out to Bob Arum of rival Top Rank Inc. to make these bouts happen.

The one fight De La Hoya singled out is a showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

“Anything’s possible. That’s one of the reasons I was extending the olive branch. The fans want to see these kinds of fights,” he told Pugmire.

Pacquiao is coming off a vindicating win over Timothy Bradley last April 13 to regain the WBO welterweight title, while Alvarez is scheduled to face Erislandy Lara in July. The Filipino icon has indicated his desire to fight one more time this year.

De La Hoya is hopeful it will be against Alvarez, who famously fought and lost to Floyd Mayweather in September last year in his biggest fight to date.

It’s been a while since GBP and Top Rank – two of the biggest promotional outfits in the business – got together to arrange a fight between their respective fighters.

Arum, for his part, is likewise willing to work again with De La Hoya, whom he used to promote when the latter was still an active boxer.

“I’d be happy to talk to Oscar about any subject in boxing he wishes to talk to me about,” Arum said in the same Los Angeles times report.

“All this baloney about a cold war has never really applied to Oscar and myself. We can talk bout any subject in boxing rationally. … We might disagree on a particular point, but we can talk. I hope we’ll get together and have some significant meetings in the near future,” added the Top Rank chief.

Weight, however, could be an issue in making a Pacquiao-Alvarez fight. Alvarez, who sports a record of 43-1-1, with 31 knockouts, currently campaigns at light middleweight or 154 pounds. Pacquiao, meanwhile, fights at welterweight and might even slide down to light welterweight (140 pounds), if trainer Freddie Roach will have his way.

But De La Hoya insists anything is possible.

“If anyone with Golden Boy has any differences with Bob, it’s on them. I have nothing against Bob and I feel making fights with Bob is beneficial to the fans and the market,” said De La Hoya.