Sports: De La Hoya's victory

De La Hoya's victory

By JOHN COTEY

The big winner of one the year's most talked about and hyped fights was Oscar De La Hoya.

The big loser?

Winky Wright.

The St. Petersburg fighter, not flashy, loud, troubled or nasty enough for the bright lights of Las Vegas' million-dollar title fights, continues to search for his place on the landscape. Had Fernando Vargas, and not De La Hoya, won Saturday, Wright would be lacing up his boots for a center stage appearance. He would have made millions. He would have -- get this -- headlined a boxing card with a junior middleweight unification fight against Vargas.

But De La Hoya doesn't appear concerned with unifying the titles (he holds the WBC and WBA portions). He never mentions Wright's name, and his handlers avoided the subject after the latest victory.

"I want Oscar to clean up his fights with 'Sugar' Shane (Mosley) and (Felix) Trinidad," trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. said, "and maybe another fight if he chooses. But we're not worried about Vernon Forrest and all the rest. There's always somebody who's gonna come along, a new gunslinger in town."

Wright is among "all the rest." In his soft-spoken way, he has called De La Hoya out, but it's just a whisper compared with Vargas' ticket-selling taunts. That's not Wright's style, but it's probably what it will take to goad De La Hoya into fighting. Wright is a great but uncharismatic fighter, and in today's game you have to win loudly.

"He has to get better known," said promoter Bob Arum about prospects for a De La Hoya-Wright fight. "I'm the guy putting out the money, and I'm an old man who's not looking to lose millions of dollars, so I just don't see that fight happening at this time."

Forrest, who said he will move up to the 154-pound division, would be an intriguing match for De La Hoya. Wright certainly deserves a shot. Both fighters are at the top of their games, handily beating everyone put in front of them.

But for now, De La Hoya's choices appear to be Mosley, coming off consecutive losses to Forrest, or Trinidad, who is retired. Both fighters beat him, and revenge is more the driving force behind what is left of De La Hoya's fight life.

Wright still may fight Vargas. But how much allure does that fight hold, aside from being a rematch of a controversial decision that Wright lost? Vargas has lost consecutive fights, has no title, and may no longer command the millions that Wright thinks he should be fighting for.

TUNE IN: HBO will replay De La Hoya's victory against Vargas at 9:45 p.m. Saturday.

CROWE FLIES: Heavyweight Dale Crowe will headline the next pro card at the Arena Boxing Gym on Oct. 19, but he won't be the biggest star in the place that night.

That honor will go to former heavyweight champion Greg Page, who will help trainer (and Arena Boxing owner) Jason Byers work Crowe's corner.

It will be an unlikely pairing, Crowe and Page, but one that has developed into a friendship after Byers put the two together 15 months after the two nearly dueled to the death in Kentucky.

Crowe beat Page in winning the Kentucky State Heavyweight title. At the time, Crowe was a rising contender; Page, who was thought by many to be the next Muhammad Ali in his prime, was hoping to be the next George Foreman past his prime.

In the 10th-round, Page (42 at the time) was knocked down, more from a push. Some say he hit his head on the non-regulation canvas, but the more prevailing view is that he had a stroke and collapsed.

He needed emergency brain surgery, had cardiac arrest, slipped into a coma and two strokes later uses a wheel chair.

Crowe hasn't won since, and told Byers he was unable to shake off the effects of the incident. Byers acted, calling Page and arranging a meeting last week, and now the two are friends.