Eddie Hearn has responded to Oscar De La Hoya's criticism of himself and Canelo following this week's announcement of Canelo's return to the ring on May 6th against John Ryder. Canelo will be looking to defend his undisputed super-middleweight titles against Ryder in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he returns to boxing in Mexico for the first time since 2011.
Ryder joins a growing list of British fighters as opponents of Canelo, joining the likes of Callum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders, Rocky Fielding, Amir Khan, Ryan Rhodes and Matthew Hatton as opponents for Canelo. Granted, these opponents were at varying times of his career and across varying weights. However, that did not halt Oscar from weighing in with his opinion on Canelo and Ryder.
(Oscar, speaking to Fight Hub)
"It seems like he's regressing inside the ring, he's regressing in terms of opponents.
"He's fighting all these British fighters and it does nothing to his legacy
"I don't know whose fault that is, I don't want to mention anything.
"He has to step up and fight tough opposition, the tough guys, the guys who are out there who can give him a fight. It's not the John Ryders of this world."
When speaking to the same outlet (Fight-Hub), Eddie fired back and claimed that Oscar's matchmaking for Gilberto Ramirez and Jaime Munguia is less than desirable. Furthermore, Eddie says that Oscar can not overcome the fact that Canelo left Oscar and Golden Boy Promotions in 2020.
"John Ryder's earned his shot, he beat Danny Jacobs, he beat Zach Parker.
"I did see Oscar say, 'You've gotta fight bigger fights.' His last three fights have been Caleb Plant, Dmitry Bivol and Gennady Golovkin.
"Sometimes people actually refuse to acknowledge the facts.
"Oscar De La Hoya said, 'They're stupid taking that [Bivol] fight, that's such a tough fight, they're idiots,' but all of a sudden he's taking easy fights?
"Oscar will say whatever suits him. I don't think half the time he knows what he's saying.
"But he will never speak honestly about Canelo Alvarez because at the end of the day, Canelo Alvarez left Golden Boy and he's never been able to accept that.
"I think he needs to look at some of his own matchmaking. Particularly Gilberto Ramirez this weekend and particularly Jaime Munguia, which has been absolutely horrific and embarrassing.
"If you want to look at Canelo's résumé and criticise, you're a complete idiot."
Furthermore, Oscar responded on social media to claim that Eddie and Matchroom are trying to sign Munguia and that he "doesn't know shit about boxing".
Oh God 🙄 Again?? Eddie Hearn stop attempting to poach another one of my World Champions in @jaimemunguia15. Why is it impossible for you to build your own? To quote Roger Mayweather “you don’t know shit about boxing” https://t.co/1hxMRS7pgF
— Oscar De La Hoya (@OscarDeLaHoya) March 17, 2023