HEADED IN THE WRIGHT DIRECTION?

Byline: ROBERT MORALES BOXING

Winky Wright always has aspired to fight the best during his era. Oscar De La Hoya has won world championships in a record sixweight classes, so he certainly fits the bill.

Although it has been written in many publications that the last fight of De La Hoya's esteemed career would be against Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 5, there has been a change of heart.

Richard Schaefer, CEO of DeLa Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, said this week that he got a call from De La Hoya two weeks ago telling him that very thing.

``I feel fresh, I feel intact,'' DeLa Hoya, 33, told the Daily News via telephone on Friday from Puerto Rico, where he lives with his wife Millie and their son Oscar. ``I think about all these things where fighters retire early.

``Millie has always been very supportive. It was a matter of letting her know what I want to do so she can have time to prepare herself. She tells me it's dangerous and what she's thinking, but that ultimately it's my decision.''

Schaefer also supports De La Hoya.

``I told him, `This a very personal decision, retirement, for anybody in any business. It's one you have to take serious.''' Schaefer said. ``And, you know, he just wants to make sure that when he is going to say, `I'm retired,' that he is retired.''

This could open the door for a fight between De La Hoya and Wright, who next Saturday will square off with Ike Quartey

at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa,Fla.

``Oh, I'm hoping for it, of course,'' Wright said last Saturday while entertaining reporters following a workout at the Fight Club in Las Vegas. ``I'm not going to say I wouldn't want to fight Oscar.

``First of all, besides the money, you're fighting a legend. You're fighting somebody who has been in the game and been on top of his game for a long time. De La Hoya has been in my era since the amateurs to the pros, so that's the fight that I definitely want, you know what I mean?''

De La Hoya would be all for it.

``Chances are, it can happen,'' De La Hoya said. ``Knowing me, most likely it will happen.''

The question is, would De La Hoya stay true to his most recent word and continue to fight if he should lose to Mayweather?

``I think, most likely, I will continue fighting,'' De La Hoya said. ``But for me to lose, Floyd will have to put on one helluva performance. I really want this one. I feel it inside. Floyd will have to be on top of his game, and then some.''

If Wright did hook up with DeLa Hoya, he would most assuredly make more money than he has ever made -- by far. So it's no surprise to hear his pick for De La Hoya-Mayweather.

After all, De La Hoya-Wright is much bigger if De La Hoya is coming off a win over Mayweather.

``I see a great fight,'' Wright said. ``I think Floyd is a helluva fighter. I take nothing away from him. But I think Oscar will beat him because I think Oscar is bigger, stronger. Floyd is very quick but I think Oscar is quick and Oscar hits much harder.

``I think Oscar wins the fight.''

De La Hoya sues Arum over Pacquiao

Erik Morales, arguably the most loyal fighter Bob Arum ever has promoted, had just been destroyed in three rounds by Manny Pacquiao.

Yet, Arum was smiling in the postfight news conference last Saturday night.

Standing on a dais inside the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Arum proclaimed, ``Top Rank has signed a contract to promote Manny Pacquiao's fights for the next fouryears.''

Arum said Pacquiao had returned the $500,000 bonus he had received for signing a seven-fight deal with Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, which, according to Arum, had interfered with the contract Pacquiao had signed with Top Rank for the fight with Morales.

Pacquaio refused to discuss the situation as he sat with his trainer, Freddie Roach, about 15 feet from Arum. But Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, had plenty to say Tuesday during an interview with the Daily News.

``We have a fully negotiated and executed promotional agreement with Manny Pacquiao and we're not going to back off on that,'' Schaefer said. ``He had accepted the signing bonus, he had deposited the signing bonus in his bank account.

``Then, another promoter (Arum) comes along and waves a bigger amount in his face. This other promoter interfered with our contract because we had actually heard through his comments in the press that he was planning on doing something. So we put Arum on notice, that if in fact he would do something, that it would be tortious interference with our valid promotional agreement.

``And he didn't listen. He went ahead, it sounds like, and did do a deal with Pacquiao. He has obviously now tortiously interfered with our contract. And it will result in legal action.''

De La Hoya and his company filed the lawsuit Tuesday in LosAngeles Superior Court against Arum and Top Rank Inc. of Las Vegas.

Arum has said all along that when Golden Boy signed Pacquiao to a deal in late September, it had interfered with the one-fight contract Pacquiao had signed with him for the Morales fight.

However, Schaefer said that he is ``absolutely confident'' that Golden Boy in no way did anything wrong when it inked Pacquiao. He read the language of Arum's contract with Pacquiao for the Morales fight over the phone to the Daily News, but he asked it not be revealed in print.

Schaefer said he refused to take the bonus back from Pacquiao when it was sent to him Friday via Federal Express.

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(1) Oscar De La Hoya says he feels `fresh,' and that his fight against Floyd Mayweather might not be his last.

Donald Miralle/Getty Images

(2) no caption (Manny Pacquiao)

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