By Chris Williams: First it was Floyd Mayweather Jr. advising Top Rank CEO Bob Arum who to contact Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions to start negotiations between Manny Pacquiao and Mayweather, and now it’s Oscar De La Hoya joining in on the team effort to try and get through to Arum to make him understand that he needs to contact Schaefer.
It’s sad that Arum would need to be told this, but he recently said he couldn’t put the fight together between Pacquiao and Mayweather because he didn’t know who Mayweather’s representative is. Arum wanted to hear from Mayweather directly before he’d start negotiations with his appointed rep.
If Arum’s still not interested in making the fight, he can always cast doubt on the authenticity of Mayweather’s twitter account by saying he isn’t sure if it’s the real Mayweather or not.
Speaking on his twitter, De La Hoya said “Let’s do this. Way to step up to the plate Floyd Mayweather. Let’s do it. Bob [Arum], now call Richard Schaefer. His Phone is on. You see Pac works for Bob Arum and Golden Boy works for the fighters. That’s the difference. Bob, call GBP.”
Someone then asked De La Hoya why he himself doesn’t call Arum, and De La Hoya said “No one answers.”
Donaire needs to impress against Vazquez Jr.
Nonito Donaire (27-1, 18 KO’s) steps up in weight next month to take on Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. (21-1, 18 KO’s) on February 4th for the vacant WBO super bantamweight title at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Bob Arum has big expectations for Donaire and sees him as a future star. However, Donaire’s career hasn’t lived up to early expectations after his quick 5th knockout win over Vic Darchinyan in July 2007.
Since that time, Donaire has had only one big fight and that was against WBC/WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel last February. That win was supposed to have ushered in a new era where Donaire would start getting big fights. But instead of a big fight in his next bout, Donaire was put in with the smallish Omar Narvaez, a fighter dragged up in weight from the super flyweight division to fight Donaire.
By fighting a guy that was four inches shorter, it was supposed to make Donaire look great. It didn’t work. Donaire’s lack of technical skills were badly exposed by Narvarez, who had no problem nullifying Donaire’s left hook and leaving him with few other options to impress. Although Donaire won the fight largely based on size alone, he looked awful and the fight likely did little in winning him new fans.
Donaire is now facing another smaller fighter in Vazquez Jr. and that should give him a really good shot at winning the vacant WBO belt. However, Donaire needs to dominate and not just win. If he’s to become a huge star in the sport then he’ll need to dominate guys like Vazquez.
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