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Oscar
De La Hoya is set to fight the tough Sugar Shane Mosely.
After a successful fight against Derrel Coley, Oscar De La Hoya
is ready to take his new aggressive boxing approach into the ring to
battle probably his toughest ring opponent yet. The undefeated Sugar Shane
Mosely.
 The 28-year-old,
Mosely is 34-0 with 32 knockouts and was the International Boxing Federation
(IBF) lightweight champion before moving up 12 pounds and two weight divisions in the fall. In his first fight at 147 pounds, Mosley knocked out
tough veteran Wilfredo Rivera in the 10th round. In January, the lightning
quick hands of Mosley got a fourth-round knockout victory over Willie Wise.
A brave move by the "Golden Boy" of boxing, but a risky
one. If he loses another championship title fight, it might spell
the end of his illustrious career.
This June 17th at the Staples Center, the once held by De La Hoya, WBC
welterweight title will be on the line. "On June 17, this belt goes along with the title," De
La Hoya said at a news conference. "The best man will win it."
The two natives of the Los Angeles area have fought before, meeting in the junior Golden Gloves several
times when they were around 10 or 11 years old. No one seems to know how many times they were
matched as youths, although one longtime boxing observer said Mosley beat De La Hoya each time.
De La Hoya said he had no recollection of the bouts.
Mosley, whose $4.5 million plus a percentage of pay-per-view will be his largest paycheck, thanked
De La Hoya.
"A lot of people said he wouldn't fight me, that he would move up or
something," Mosley said. "But he proved he wanted to take this fight, and I
thank him for that."
De La Hoya, 32-1 with 26 knockouts, will get $8 million plus a percentage
from TV.
California's 5 percent tax on boxing and wrestling
shows would mean a bill of $400,000 for a sellout crowd of 20,000 at the arena, in addition to $240,000 for the city tax. Staples officials are seeking a
state tax cap of $50,000 on the fight, such as the cap in place in New York.
The arena has guaranteed promoter Bob Arum an estimated $5 million for the
fight. Leiweke said the arena also will help provide the extra tax money if the
state doesn't agree to a cap.
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