Arum Is Attempting to Develop a Midas Touch With De La Hoya

Felix Trinidad to Bob Arum: Not enough.

Arum to Shane Mosley: Too much.

As always in boxing, some of the best moves and countermoves are made far from the ring as fighters, promoters and managers take their best shots at multimillion-dollar paydays.

At the center of much of the activity now is World Boxing Council welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya, the Golden Boy whose name on a contract means gold for opponents as well.

And the keeper of the riches is, of course, Arum, De La Hoya’s promoter.

DE LA HOYA VS. TRINIDAD?

Trinidad, the International Boxing Federation welterweight titleholder, is the most attractive opponent right now for De La Hoya, who will defend his title against Oba Carr next Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.

Arum has penciled Trinidad in for a Sept. 18 pay-per-view fight.

But Trinidad has been asking for a purse equal to De La Hoya’s, which would put Trinidad in the range of $12 million to $15 million, at least six times more than Trinidad has ever been paid.

Arum has countered with a $10-million offer, which he says expires Wednesday.

But Trinidad’s father, Felix Sr., says that he won’t come down on his demands.

“If he doesn’t agree by Wednesday, we’ll go with an Ike Quartey rematch,” Arum said.

De La Hoya won a decision over Quartey in February in an action-filled fight, which included knockdowns by both men.

Ironically, Arum’s biggest ally in his bid to set up this fight is his archrival, Don King, who is in Puerto Rico, where Trinidad lives, trying to seal the deal.

“I want this fight as badly as a rat wants cheese,” King said.

And for a very good reason.

King has a contract with Trinidad that guarantees the fighter $42.9 million for 12 fights over a four-year period. The only way King can generate that kind of money for Trinidad is to put him in the ring with De La Hoya.

Also, if Trinidad were to fight De La Hoya and lose, King’s financial obligations to his fighter would be lessened.

Arum has not only offered Trinidad the $10 million, but a percentage of the pay-per-view revenue after the number of subscribers reaches a million. That, however, is not as generous an offer as it might first appear.

For one thing, King will get a share of the purse, and that could be as high as one-third.

For another, the starting point for Trinidad’s participation in the pay-per-view market appears unrealistically high.

No non-heavyweight fight has ever been bought by a million subscribers. The best De La Hoya has ever done is around 740,000. So Trinidad is being told that this fight must reach a figure more than a third higher than any previous De La Hoya fight before Trinidad can start sharing in the profits.

Will Trinidad eventually budge and fight for Arum’s figure? Perhaps.

Will Arum budge and wait beyond his deadline if it looks as if progress is being made in the negotiations? Definitely.

DE LA HOYA VS. MOSLEY?

Mosley, who has been accused of ducking big-name opponents, suddenly wants to fight one of the biggest.

The IBF lightweight champion at 135 pounds, Mosley, a local fighter from Pomona, says he would like to jump up two weight classes to 147, fight twice and then take on De La Hoya in De La Hoya’s already-reserved December date at L.A.’s new Staples Center.

Arum says Mosley wants $10 million for the fight, but hasn’t yet earned such a payday.

“It’s nonsense,” Arum said. “They are just looking for publicity. It’s a joke. . . . He wants $10 million.”

Not so, insists Jack Mosley, Shane’s father and manager.

“I never talked to [Arum] about money,” the senior Mosley said. “All that stuff is negotiable. Shane has been named fighter of the year, he is a champion and he brings a lot to the table.

“Trinidad gets a $10-million offer and he comes from Puerto Rico, which is not even as big as California. We are not going to have Shane embarrassed by allowing him to fight for peanuts. We are human beings, not animals and [Arum] has to negotiate that way.”

HAMED VS. TAPIA?

When Arum called Prince Naseem Hamed “a fraud” in The Times last week, Arum said he was trying to get the World Boxing Organization featherweight champion angry enough to agree to a fight with Erik Morales, WBC super-bantamweight champ and another Arum fighter.

Arum got a reaction, all right.

Hamed called him and said he was outraged at the remark, but then told Arum he’d prefer to fight Johnny Tapia, the World Boxing Assn., bantamweight titleholder and yet another Arum fighter.

Arum agreed to consider the offer and said Hamed is no longer a fraud.

At least until Hamed chooses not to face another Arum fighter.