Oscar De La Hoya Speaks to 411mania

Posted by Ryan Bates on 11.14.2009

We were able to squeeze in a few words with the "Golden Boy" at David Haye's luncheon.


Photo by Laura De La Torre / 411mania.com

I got a brief moment to chat with the "Golden Boy," Oscar De La Hoya, about what we can expect from his promotional company in 2010.

RYAN: What does Golden Boy have in store for 2010? What's in the pipe for the future?

OSCAR DE LA HOYA: Well, it's looking great. We expect to put up about sixty events next year on TV, and we're in talks with ESPN and FOX Sports about getting back into fights. We're also looking into partnering with Univision to get fights on Spanish TV and bring back their Solo Boxeo series. So the future is looking very bright. We're also pleased to be working with HBO, bringing them close to 85 or 90% of their boxing content. 2010 is looking great.

RYAN: You made a crack a few moments ago about you fighting Shaq...

[Oscar laughs and mimes battling Shaquille O'Neal again.]

...but I have a serious question based off that. A lot of bigger athletes in America may be interested in boxing but don't pursue it; instead they go off to football, or basketball, or some other sport. What can boxing, as a sport, do to keep these bigger guys in the game?

OSCAR: I definitely think there are things that boxing can do to keep big athletes in the sport. One of the things that Golden Boy Promotions is working on is a better organization to the sport, a better structure to the fights. We want to make it like a league, like the NBA, or NFL, or NHL. Golden Boy Promotions will be the league. And when we accomplish that, it will create opportunities for light weight fighters and heavier weight fighters. That's one of the reasons why we're so excited to have David Haye as the new heavyweight champion, because he injects excitement into the heavyweight division. And with that excitement, we can keep bigger athletes into our sport.