Byline: Michael Rosenthal Assistant Sports Editor
LAS VEGAS - The talk of the town is that the Oscar De La Hoya-Shane Mosley fight Saturday is the hottest ticket around. One overly enthusiastic but objective observer compared it to Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier I.
He might not be that far off. Scalpers reportedly are asking for more than $10,000 for ringside tickets with the arena at the MGM Grand and close- circuit sites sold out.
Even promoter Bob Arum was baffled.
``I don't get it,'' he said, shrugging his shoulders.
The prevailing theory is that boxing fans have had slim pickings this year. Until now, the biggest fight was Roy Jones Jr.-John Ruiz, and that was in March. Apparently, people are hungry for a good brawl.
``We made the fight in February,'' said Judd Burstein, Mosley's attorney. ``At that time, we thought Lennox Lewis was going to fight Mike Tyson in June. That was supposed to be the fight of the year.
``Little did we know.''
De La Hoya and Mosley are guaranteed $17 million and $4.5 million, respectively. However, if pay-per-view numbers fall in line with the success in Las Vegas, those figures could grow significantly.
The record for a nonheavyweight fight is 1.4 million buys for De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad in 1999.
``I'd be disappointed if Oscar made less than $25 million the way things are going,'' said Arum, who added Mosley's take could approach $10 million.
--Dog days: No one can accuse De La Hoya of being overly macho. The big, bad fighter walked into a group interview with maybe 20 reporters holding his tiny Yorkshire ``Tea Cup'' Terrier.
``Pretty wimpy dog, isn't it,'' one reporter piped up.
``Just like its owner,'' De La Hoya replied.
--Cup caper: De La Hoya played down the Mosley camp's contention that his protective cup rides too high on his stomach and sides, thus providing unfair protection.
``The cup doesn't protect any more or any less,'' he said. ``It's maybe a half-inch higher than a normal cup.''
He has no plans to change cups.
--Jones to fight Tarver: Jones Jr.'s reign as a heavyweight champion is about to come to a close.
Jones has scheduled a news conference for Saturday to announce a fight Nov. 8 with Antonio Tarver, who holds two light heavyweight title belts Jones used to own.
Taking the fight means Jones probably will lose the WBA title he won in March from Ruiz in his only fight as a heavyweight. The WBA has scheduled a purse bid for Sept. 15 for David Tua and Hasim Rahman to box in what it labels an interim title fight.
Tarver (21-1, 17 KOs) won the bronze medal in the 1996 Olympics and beat Montell Griffin in April to win the WBC and IBF 175-pound titles vacated by Jones when he moved up to the heavyweight division.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
