LEFT EYE CUT WORSE THAN FIRST REPORTED

The best welterweight fight in 17 years between Oscar De La Hoya and Ike Quartey has been postponed due to a cut suffered by WBC champion De La Hoya in training. The November 21, match at the Thomas & Mack Arena in Las Vegas will now take place on either February 6, or 13.

ARUM AT 4:00 ET

De La Hoya's promoter Bob Arum said that "Oscar was told by a plastic surgeon to not spar for three to four weeks." Arum then looked at the month of January and found that the Pay Per View dates are slim as Mike Tyson is expected to fight on January 16, with George Foreman and Larry Holmes going on January 23.

WHO, WHEN, & HOW?

Although the sparring partner was not identified, the incident took place in De La Hoya's Big Bear training camp last Friday when the spar mate missed with an uppercut, and caught De La Hoya with the laces of his gloves. This resulted in a gash on the left eyelid.

AMATEUR CORNER STRIKES AGAIN?

The fact that the laces of a sparring partner were exposed is in itself an indictment of De La Hoya's trainer Robert Alcazar. For anybody boxing my fighter, be it a Golden Glover' or a Golden Boy, I would (and did) inspect the other fighter's equipment and exposed laces were a no-no.

TROUBLED OPTIC SWOLLEN

Besides the cut, the left eye was extremely swollen with approximately a 50% loss of vision. This is the same eye that has puffed up on a number of occasions in the past for De La Hoya, most notably after his last fight with Julio Cesar Chavez, and when he fought Miguel Angel Gonzalez in 1997.


Pedro Fernandez

The writer has his own site at www.fighters.com and can be reached at
flash@inow.com

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