Promoter Oscar De La Hoya, the lead voice of Golden Boy Promotions expressed dissatisfaction with the recent pay-per-view bout between Canelo Alvarez and Jermell Charlo, which took place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada this past Saturday. Canelo who was originally promoted by De La Hoya was too big and too strong for Charlo as Charlo seemingly never tried to win the fight once he realized this.
De La Hoya emphasized the urgent need for promoters to collaborate and organize more high-profile fights that keep the fans interested as opposed to feeling ripped off.
“Canelo-Charlo, super boring fight,” said De La Hoya on his Instagram. “[Charlo] just showed up for a paycheck. Canelo like I said on quick sand throwing bombs, he won easy.”
However, De La Hoya acknowledged the difficulty in expecting promoters to risk their money-making fighters by putting them against a challenging opponent as it will change the earning power of the company and fighter as the losing fighter could have a tarnished reputation.
“If we want boxing to survive, if we want boxing to thrive, we need super fights,” said De La Hoya. “Like, all the time. Fighters must fight each other.”
De La Hoya’s message is rather clear. He feels that the sport of boxing needs super-fights to exist and that unexciting mega-fights greatly hurt the sport. In De La Hoya’s final words, he called out fellow promoters Eddie Hearn, Al Haymon, and Bob Arum, to unite and talk about making big fights as De La Hoya sees boxing’s future as bleak without some interesting match-ups.
“We have to come together, promoters, Eddie Hearn, Al Haymon, Bob Arum, whoever is out there, let’s come together,” said De La Hoya. “I’m calling you out, let’s come together. Let’s meet, the power of the minds, and come up with something because boxing can die. I am calling you all out.”
The hard problem is the system in place. Successful fighters and promoters are looking for two types of fights, either a cash-out fight for a veteran fighter looking to get paid, or easy, guaranteed victories that do not jeopardize their financial future. Making high-profile interesting bouts, fight after fight, will take a cultural shift that would have to change the thought process in boxing as a whole.
