OSCAR De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank Inc., headed by Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum, supposedly ended their feud over Manny Pacquiao in the summer of 2007. But lingering hard feelings are starting to surface now that De La Hoya and Pacquiao are fighting each other Dec. 6.
De La Hoya said the 12-round pay-per-view bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas is “personal to me” because of what happened in 2006. De La Hoya thought he had signed Pacquiao to a seven-fight deal with Golden Boy Promotions that included a $300,000 signing bonus.
But Pacquiao later returned the signing bonus to Golden Boy and accepted a $1 million bonus to join Top Rank. Lawsuits and insults were exchanged between Golden Boy and Top Rank for several months until an out-of-court settlement was reached in June 2007 with Top Rank becoming Pacquiao’s primary promoter.
Golden Boy and Top Rank have been bitter rivals since De La Hoya left Top Rank to start his own promotional company. Since the settlement, the two companies have worked together to stage some of boxing’s best fights. But De La Hoya apparently hasn’t forgotten about the legal fees Pacquiao cost him and wants some payback.
“That’s one of the reasons why this fight is so personal to me because of that night when we signed that deal,” De La Hoya said. “He turned his back on me. He’s going to have to pay come Dec. 6.”
The episode proved embarrassing for De La Hoya. During a deposition for the lawsuit, Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach told how De La Hoya took Pacquiao to a Los Angeles steakhouse and wooed him with a suitcase filled with $250,000 in cash. It conjured images of the back room, under-the-table transactions that have given boxing a bad image.
Regardless of how it was consummated, De La Hoya thought he had a deal. But when Pacquiao signed with Golden Boy, he did so while under contract with Top Rank for a third fight against Erik Morales.
The contract, according to Top Rank, included a clause
prohibiting Pacquiao from signing with another promoter before the bout. The litigation figured to get ugly until an arbitrator helped the sides reach a settlement.
“I don’t want him talking about honor and how he honors this and that,” De La Hoya said. “He didn’t honor me that night, so I’m not going to honor him come Dec. 6.”
Pacquiao has always acted like an innocent bystander in the whole affair. When told of De La Hoya’s lingering animosity, he offered little response.
“If that’s what he believes, let him do that,” said Pacquiao, who is jumping from lightweight to welterweight for the non-title bout. “For me in the ring, I don’t want to make it personal. I just do my job in the ring and win the fight. Nothing personal.”
When co-promoting a bout, Golden Boy and Top Rank, put on a cordial front, but it is an uneasy truce.
“There is some bad blood,” said Roach, who trained De La Hoya for his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year. “Manny doesn’t like Oscar either. They may be acting like gentlemen, but there’s a lot of dislike and motivation.”