Split decision for De La Hoya

Oscar De La Hoya doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want to do, and that includes making a decision.

Yesterday, De La Hoya hosted a conference call to discuss his future. His decision was simple. The future is not now.

De La Hoya put off a final fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. tentatively scheduled for Sept. 16 until likely May, and perhaps not at all, because he has been unable to decide what to do next in the weeks since his destruction of Ricardo Mayorga. Because of his unrivaled power at the box office and in driving pay-per-view sales, De La Hoya is free to do what he wants.

``I didn't want to fall into the trap of so many fighters who retire and then feel the urge to come back in a few months or a few years," De La Hoya said from his home in Puerto Rico. ``When I announce my retirement it will be for sure. Today is not that day."

But yesterday was also not the day to announce a showdown with Mayweather, who is universally regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. De La Hoya said there is no one else who holds the slightest interest for him, so if he does fight again it will only be against Mayweather. But he refused to be pressured into a decision to fight Sept. 16.

``It's just too soon to make that decision," De La Hoya said. ``I'm definitely not going to fight in September. I felt too much pressure."

De La Hoya claimed he was still running daily and working with weights, and said he was 150 or 151 pounds, well below the 154-pound junior middleweight limit Mayweather would have to agree to come up to for the fight. That is not a problem because Mayweather would agree to fight De La Hoya at heavyweight.

That leaves the control in De La Hoya's corner, as it has been for years. His 850,000 pay-per-view buys for the Mayorga fight made it one of the biggest non-heavyweight fights in history.

``I know I can fight a few more years," De La Hoya said. ``I can dig deep inside and forget the pain [from hand, elbow, and rotator cuff injuries], but my next fight will be my last. Absolutely. And it will be Floyd Mayweather Jr. There is no Plan B."

Yet boxing's Golden Boy acknowledged he was also pondering the consequences of continuing to fight and coming up short.

``I thought of all the great fighters who retired and came back to lose and be humbled in that ring," De La Hoya said. ``It happens over and over again. I don't want to make that error. If I do retire, I want to feel no pressure whatsoever."

``It's absolutely a possibility I decide to retire. I'm nobody's steppingstone. I realize Mayweather can beat me, but I realize I can beat him. Moving up to 154 and wearing those 10-ounce gloves [rather than the 8-ounce gloves worn in the lighter weight classes] is a whole different game. That's my home."

Among the things De La Hoya had to consider was whether Mayweather's father, Floyd Sr., would be comfortable training him to beat his son. The Mayweathers have a hot-and-cold relationship but Mayweather Sr. originally said he would not participate in such a fight. But after a recent family blowup, he changed his mind.

For his part, De La Hoya sees that decision as only one more difficulty he has to work out before he can decide whether to continue to box 27 years after he first stepped into a small gym in East Los Angeles at the age of 6.

``Floyd Sr. mentioned that, yes, he would train me," said De La Hoya. ``At first I felt big relief because without Floyd Sr. I won't be fighting. But then I started thinking, how uncomfortable would it be to have Floyd's father training me? I don't think it would be right, but if we do fight I'm there to win. I'll use anything I can. If I have to use his father, I will. It's sad to say but that's the way it has to be.

``At this point I'm leaning toward not retiring. This is what I love. This is the sport that drives me. The sport that keeps me alive."

De La Hoya acknowledges he is not what he once was. But he is also still among the top 10 fighters in the world, so if he is ever going to face Mayweather Jr., he must do it soon. His fear, though, is that if he decides to fight he will learn too late what his idol, Julio Cesar Chavez, learned at De La Hoya's hands. That the calendar is an opponent no one can beat.

``The only thing that drives me now is Floyd Mayweather Jr. being the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world," De La Hoya said. ``Beating him would make me the best. Years ago I was on top of that list for a slight moment. That's something that gets me going.

``When I do announce my retirement it would be because I'm certain 100 percent. It isn't today because I don't know. At this stage of my career I feel I have the right to call my own shots. What am I going to do? I don't have an answer. It will come to me."

When it does, more than likely it will come looking like Floyd Mayweather Jr.