Golden Boy

Regarding the passing of Art Aragon, I remember one of Jim Murray's many great columns. I can only poorly paraphrase. Art had been knocked to the canvas, one of many times, at the Olympic Auditorium and the referee needed to see if the bout should be continued. Standing over Aragon, the ref asked his name and the Golden Boy replied correctly. He asked if he knew where he was and Art was indeed aware he was at the Olympic. The final and determining question was, do you know what's happening?

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- It was in a sticky heat on Monday that heralded freshman quarterback Jimmy Clausen walked across campus toward his first fall football practice at Notre Dame. He wore sandals and a red T-shirt, rolled up to mid-chest. He carried one football shoe in each hand. It marked a beginning, for sure, but of what? More than being the answer for Irish football right now, Clausen is just one of many questions.

Popular Los Angeles boxer Oscar De La Hoya and partners have tentatively agreed to buy the landmark Sears, Roebuck & Co. building in Boyle Heights. The former champion's Golden Boy Partners real estate development company and another firm have signed a contract to purchase the mostly empty building at Olympic Boulevard and Soto Street, said current owner Mark Weinstein of MJW Investments.

Oscar De La Hoya and his chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions helped lure boxer Manny Pacquiao into signing a multi-fight contract by delivering to him a suitcase stuffed with $250,000 in cash as a signing bonus at a Beverly Hills steakhouse in September, Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach said Wednesday. "Manny told me he wanted a signing bonus, and I relayed that to Golden Boy," Roach said. "They negotiated a deal and they gave him the signing bonus, and some of it was in cash in a suitcase."

OWEN WILSON may be the only Oscar-nominated screenwriter who's never owned a computer. He's not going to take the plunge now at the advanced age of 37 because he's afraid he'd get addicted to computer games. "If I got one at this point, I'm very susceptible to getting super into it," he drawls over turkey burgers in a joint in Venice. "I'll look at these ads for these war games they have, and they look so cool." He elongates the word for effect. "I feel I could really lose myself."

Oscar De La Hoya and Richard Schaefer, head of De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, were unable Monday to finalize an agreement to become Bernard Hopkins' promoters. A news conference to announce the deal had been scheduled for today but was postponed as negotiations with the undisputed middleweight champion continued. There are no plans for Hopkins, who defeated De La Hoya in September, to fight him again. Any agreement involving Hopkins and Golden Boy would be purely a promotional contract.

Boxer Oscar de la Hoya's Golden Boy Enterprises has purchased controlling interest in a downtown Los Angeles office building for $16 million. Golden Boy bought majority ownership of 626 Wilshire Blvd. from Barker Pacific Group, which will keep a minority share. Golden Boy will move its offices there from the nearby U.S. Bank Tower.

It seems that Oscar De La Hoya fans have become so accustomed to his underachieving ways that even he realizes that he doesn't need a big explanation after a forgettable effort. "What can I say?" is all he really said in most post-fight interviews, while all along giving us that Golden Boy smile. "Thanks for the $30 million, suckers" is what he's really telling us. Luis D. Machain Lynwood