Oscar De La Hoya pays a quick visit to Top Rank offices on Thursday
LAS VEGAS -- The thawing of relations between boxing's two most powerful promotional companies took another step forward on Thursday when Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya met with Top Rank CEO Bob Arum and president Todd duBoef.
Arum confirmed to Yahoo Sports that De La Hoya, in town to promote the Floyd Mayweather-Marcos Maidana pay-per-view card at the MGM Grand on Saturday, was in Top Rank's offices, but he declined to comment beyond that.
It is at least the second known meeting between the sides since July, when De La Hoya reached out to Arum in an attempt to settle their differences and begin working together again.
What has become known as "The Cold War" in boxing began in 2006 when Manny Pacquiao signed promotional agreements with Top Rank and Golden Boy at the same time. An arbiter sided with Top Rank, though it is required to pay Golden Boy a fee for each Top Rank-promoted Pacquiao bout.
Eventually, however, the dispute grew into a myriad of issues and former Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer declared his company would never work with Top Rank. Schaefer's departure from Golden Boy was hastened by his anger at De La Hoya for reaching out to Arum.
The significance of the meeting is that the companies can make major matches that have been unable to be made previously.
The topic of Thursday's meeting, which lasted about an hour, is unknown, but Golden Boy has Canelo Alvarez and he has been rumored to be interested in fighting Top Rank's Miguel Cotto for the WBC middleweight title.
There are, however, scores of good fights the sides can make.
The meeting is no reason for fans to begin dancing in the streets, but it's progress and looks like it's leading down the path that would end the lengthy dispute.
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