Good Thing De La Hoya Isn’t Fighting for Scale
LAS VEGAS — Three more diary days with Oscar until he gets his butt kicked.
LAS VEGAS -- I’m standing in the hallway talking to Dr. Phil outside his dressing room before “The Tonight Show” listening to all his problems because Oscar De La Hoya forgot his suit at home and he’s late.
Dr. Phil has brought his book for the wife, reading in Sunday’s paper that I’d probably have to ask for an autograph from “Baldy,” and “that’s the first time I ever heard that,” he mocks. I probably should have guessed that Dr. Phil would have a wife who calls it like she sees him.
“The Tonight Show” publicist stops by with notes detailing every appearance on the show -- this being Oscar’s 15th time with Jay Leno.
“How many times has Salma Hayek been on?” I ask. I’m told 11 times, which makes you wonder about Leno, who has the ability to pick up the phone and invite Hayek to the show any time he wants, but instead wants the pug more.
Oscar arrives. He’s wearing the same suit as Leno, and he’s sweating like a man waiting to find out what the jury has to say. “I’m super nervous,” he admits.
“I don’t know why,” I tell him. “Letterman has Tom Hanks on tonight, and I can’t imagine anyone watching Dr. Phil and you.”
“The Tonight Show” asks Oscar to sign forms so he can be paid $428 Hollywood scale for his appearance. They are paying him to promote his own fight!
*
YOU GET hit in the head as many times as Oscar and you forget to take your suit to “The Tonight Show” and you agree to allow Page 2 to shadow you behind the scenes through Saturday’s fight with Ricardo Mayorga at the MGM.
That’s why I’m standing on the tarmac at an airport in Van Nuys, watching the tough guy carefully walk up stairs to a private jet as he carries a Louis Vuitton handbag with a 2 1/2 -pound foo-foo dog inside.
“This is Annie,” he says, and if only Mayorga could see him now. I see why they’re calling this “Danger Zone,” though. Forget to look where you’re walking, squash Oscar’s fur ball and he’s liable to let you have it.
Oscar has been training in Puerto Rico since Feb. 2, arriving in Los Angeles a few days ago on the Gulfstream, which seats 12 and rents for about $6,000 for the 50-minute flight to Las Vegas. The kid from East L.A. has come a long way.
He’s joined on the flight by his wife, Millie, and I ask how she’ll react when her husband loses Saturday.
“I don’t care,” Millie says. “I’m just waiting for Monday so he can take the middle-of-the-night feeding with the baby, and I can sleep.”
Oscar is listening. He hires an Elvis impersonator, and now plans to marry his wife again in a chapel here Saturday after the fight. He did the same thing a year ago. It’s a great scam. With so many different wedding dates, he can never be blamed for forgetting his anniversary.
*
SECURITY GUARDS, led by a former Navy SEAL, are waiting for De La Hoya’s Monday evening arrival. Everyone is taken to a rear MGM entrance.
The public is led to believe he’s arriving Tuesday, with a band playing and a crowd gathering to meet him. They don’t know he’s coming out the MGM’s back door, getting in a car and driving to the front.
Later Mayorga arrives, and Debbie Caplan-Paz, a De La Hoya publicist, says, “He looks like a drug lord.” Did I mention Mayorga’s promoter is Don King?
*
OSCAR BEGINS the day running on UNLV’s track. His business manager tells him that workers saw Mayorga outside the hotel -- smoking.
“I’ll hit him in the body and see if he coughs up smoke,” Oscar says.
Oscar works out accompanied by guards. I worry about a boxer who needs security to protect him. A bunch of men arrive to run, which puts the security detail on alert. They don’t know it, but they’re guarding Oscar from a group of federal air marshals and their counter-terrorism instructor.
Oscar runs at a steady pace, sideways at times and for almost an hour. His demanding conditioning trainer, Ron Garcia, has him hanging upside down in boots later and doing sit-ups, 24 at a time in that position. He’s down to 5 1/2 % body fat, Garcia says, “and on the same diet as Serena and Venus Williams.”
“And look how well they’re doing,” I say.
*
THE GUY still sells tickets. They’re adding more seats. For most fights, they sell $150,000 in merchandise, but for a De La Hoya fight, they’ve gone over the $1-million mark in the past with Oscar getting 30%.
At the fake arrival, women are yelling, “I love you, Oscar.” I have no idea why. When he’s done, he does a series of media interviews and after a late-afternoon nap, he moves to the gym to pound everything they put in front of him. This will be the last time they tape his hands and really push him until he fights Saturday.
Before the workout, he gets an eye exam per Nevada Boxing Commission rules. His eyes dilated, he emerges wearing black eye shades and bumps into the wall for Page 2’s benefit. He might want to consider another career other than acting when his boxing career is over.
“I’m thinking of taking a role in ‘Mission Impossible 4,’ ” he says.
“I thought that was the name of this fight,” I reply, and he laughs, deflecting jab after jab once more, obviously knowing it’s going to get a lot tougher as the week goes on -- especially Monday when he’s up in the middle of the night with the baby.
T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.
