De La Hoya vs. Mosley II likely to get January date

Friday, July 7, 2000 | 10:22 a.m.

Former welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya will meet with promoter Bob Arum of Las Vegas next week to discuss the specifics of his ring return, but the fight could be put off until January, and come with a new trainer.

Originally, a rematch with Shane Mosley, who beat De La Hoya on June 17, was being penciled in for October, but that is now unlikely, Arum said Thursday.

"Oscar is definitely going to fight again, but he has to find out what the music schedule is," Arum said. "He has his CD coming out and he has appearances that he's obligated to make for it. We're trying to work around that to satisfy everyone, but it looks like October won't happen. I think November is possible, but you have Lennox Lewis-David Tua. So if we can't fit it in November, then we'd have to go over to January."

The target date would be Jan. 20, the week before the Super Bowl, probably in Las Vegas.

Whenever De La Hoya fights, embattled trainer Robert Alcazar may not be around. There has been rampant speculation that he'll be fired because of an inability to help De La Hoya adjust vs. Mosley.

Emanuel Steward, who trained De La Hoya for fights vs. David Kamau and Hector Camacho, would consider returning, but only if the circumstances were right.

"I have not been contacted by anyone and I'm not expecting the call either, but if I was asked I would have to meet with them and be comfortable," Steward said. "I won't have any assistant trainers."