De La Hoya says Pacquiao-Garcia is on the table

With Golden Boy seemingly on the ropes after Richard Schaefer's depature, Oscar De La Hoya has been putting on a full court press to reconcile with Bob Arum and Top Rank so they could but on some big fights in the near future. Most of the key fighters affiliated with Golden Boy are under contact with advisor, Al Haymon, and whether or not they actually have promotional deals with Golden Boy is still unclear (though its probably safe to assume they don't at this point).

With most of the GB talent in a stage of limbo, as far as promotional contracts are concerned, Oscar is reaching across the aisle to see if the company can't put some big fights together to re-secure their place as top promotional brand in the sport. In particular, one of the match-up's Oscar would like to put together is Manny Pacquiao vs. Danny Garcia.

"We're going to talk about ending the Cold War between Golden Boy and Top Rank. My objective is to make the big fights," said De La Hoya. "Golden Boy has fighters that can fight Top Rank fighters and who can make great fights. We want to make great, exciting fights that the people want to see, and that's what I want to talk to Bob about."

"You could have Danny Garcia versus Manny Pacquiao. What a fight that would be. That's what I want to talk to Bob about. Danny Garcia versus Manny Pacquiao? Come on," said De La Hoya.

"You would have the young, strong bull versus the not-so-young strong bull in Manny. Those are the types of fights and matches that I want to talk to Bob and see what we can come up with."

Bob Arum has acknowledged De La Hoya's efforts and says he's open to working together to see if the sides cannot work out a marquee fight.

"That's correct. Oscar called me at the ballpark, and we arranged to have our talk. When I finish with the tour in New York, I'll be flying to Los Angeles," said Arum, 82, under whom De La Hoya turned professional after winning an Olympic gold medal in 1992.

"I'll be meeting with Oscar over the weekend. I have always had a fatherly relationship with Oscar. We went through a whole period of his life, and, of course, my life, together, and I have very warm feelings about him."

"I think that we can talk about Pacquiao and Garcia. That's a fight that might make a lot of sense," said Arum, who has spoken to Pacquiao and his advisor, Michael Koncz, about Garcia.

"I've mentioned the possibility of that fight to Manny and Michael for down the road, and obviously, that's something that might be of interest to our side, and I'm glad that they have expressed interest from his side. We haven't talked about it, Oscar and I, but that's a fight we would be interested in talking about."

Obviously these 'talks' are as preliminary as preliminary can get, and whether or not this can actually be put together is anyone's guess. Pacquiao still has an opponent in front of him in November and should he win, eyes will once again be looking for a, dare I say, Mayweather-Pacquiao fight in the spring. Mayweather has already alluded to a 'big announcement' for that time, but whether or not its the fight that is now long past due is probably just wishful thinking.

In any event, with all the awful match-ups taking place this year, I wouldn't mind any remotely competitive match amongst top fighters. Any at all!

What say you, fight fans?