LOS ANGELES -- A publicist for Bob Arum's Top Rank Inc. broke his right leg while trying to break up a scuffle between Oscar De La Hoya and Fernando Vargas at a news conference Wednesday.

Ricardo Jimenez got caught in the middle when handlers for both fighters rushed in to break up the fight, Top Rank's Bill Caplan said Thursday.

Jimenez was on Vargas' side of the podium at a news conference called to formally announce the fighters will meet for De La Hoya's WBC super welterweight title May 4 in Las Vegas when Vargas shoved De La Hoya, according to Caplan.

"Ricardo was trying to hold back the crush of people, and used his right leg as a supporting wedge," Caplan said.

Jimenez seemed OK, but when he got out of a chair and tried to walk, he couldn't. Caplan said Jimenez didn't tell anyone about the injury until after the news conference ended -- more than an hour after the scuffle.

"He was taken to the emergency room, where he found out the tibia snapped where it joins the kneecap," Caplan said.

Jimenez, 45, will be examined again Monday to determine if surgery is necessary. The examination has to be put off because of the swelling in Jimenez's right leg, Caplan said.

Jimenez was fitted with a soft cast before being discharged from the hospital late Wednesday. He was the sports editor for the Spanish language newspaper La Opinion before joining Top Rank two years ago.

When Vargas reached the dais, he exchanged words with De La Hoya. The two shoved each other, and Vargas put his hands around De La Hoya's throat before they were separated.

No punches were exchanged and a measure of calm was quickly restored.

Members of Vargas' camp later shouted an obscenity in Spanish when Arum referred to De La Hoya as a "true gentleman" during his introduction, and Vargas used an obscene phrase while declaring himself a "real Mexican."

When asked later why he used the obscenity, Vargas said he did not remember using it.

De La Hoya's trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr., directed angry words toward Vargas, saying the fighter was under "house arrest." Vargas is wearing an electronic monitoring device to fulfill a 90-day jail sentence following a no contest plea to one felony charge of conspiracy to commit assault in connection with a 1999 incident near Santa Barbara.

Arum said security was heavier than for any other boxing news conference he has been ever involved in. Reporters were required to wear credentials, and organizers took the rare step of barring individuals from the news conference who could not prove they were part of the news media or connected with the fighters.

A uniformed Los Angeles police officer stood at each end of the dais and several plainclothes security guards, employed by the hotel, were stationed nearby in a ballroom filled with representatives of both fighters.

In separate interview sessions, Vargas, of Oxnard, Calif., said he admired De La Hoya, who grew up in East Los Angeles, when the latter won an Olympic gold medal in 1992. But those feelings ended two years later when the then-16-year old Vargas trained with De La Hoya.

Vargas said he would provide further details about his dislike for De La Hoya after the May 4 fight.

De La Hoya, who turns 29 next month, said he hated the 24-year-old Vargas, a word he said he had never used before to describe an opposing fighter. He also said Vargas was "obsessed" with him, likening him to a "celebrity stalker." Vargas denied the charge.

De La Hoya, 34-2 with 27 knockouts, said he would knock down Vargas four times in the fight billed by promoters as "Bad Blood."

Vargas (22-1, 20 knockouts) said he would defeat De La Hoya and cause him to retire.