Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya commented today on the current state of boxing. “If anyone doubted how badly boxing needs Canelo – the sport’s biggest star – back in the ring, look no further than the terrible ratings from boxing on network TV the last few weeks,” stated the Golden Boy via social media.
“It’s a f**king embarrassment that sports-starved fans are flocking to baseball and the UFC, and largely ignoring the greatest sport in the world. I have been working tirelessly day and night with our partners at DAZN to get a Canelo fight done ASAP and get our sport back on track.”
Word to Oscar; Put Canelo in with a legit opponent that will truly test waters and not some cherry-picked-money-maker-tune up fighter with a predictable end. I am done watching Canelo till he fights a legit opponent. It’s no wonder some fans leave boxing when it’s the same-old BS over and over again.
Too true man. I have friends who gave up after the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight and never bothered to return. Among the main issues also is all the belts. Ufc has one champion….done.
Agreed, UFC just puts on a better product. I still like boxing more, but we have a choice between crappy uncompetitive boxing matches or tip-top UFC cards. Boxing just keeps shooting itself in the foot and Oscar is on of the problems.
I do like boxing better too but man, ufc is getting better. Fights I’ve seen lately seem to be primarily punching/kicking compared to more wrestling/grappling in the past. And good punching…like this Justin gaethje….that guy is entertaining.
UFC is not a sport it is like the WBC or WBA in boxing. UFC is an organisation within a sport. MMA is the sport.
Jacobs. GGG 2x, despite the outcomes. Lara(super avoided), Trout(undefeated), Krusher(LH champ ko’ed), Who’s he really got in front of him? Boo Boo?(hasn’t had a high profile win). Charlo?(Avoided BooBoo, also no high profile fight). Charlo will be having his highest profile fight to date and it’s a guy who lost to GGG. BJS?( Canelo was going to fight him Covid ko’ed it). Haters want him to go into a almost impossible situation with Beterbiev. Crazy!
How is fighting Beterbiev the impossible when Canelo fought the Krusher who was a LH as well? Krusher was champ, right? Yes, I know Kovalev was on his down slide, but still, Beterbiev is not impossible in my book! It sells tickets and makes a lot of money! Let’s see it!
It’s a 21lb increase from his starting weight. Yes he took a match in that division. But we all knew he’d be still trying to make 160 or 168. It’s almost impossible to span all those weight classes and fight the biggest strongest guy at the top of that spectrum. How about the WBC champ who just got stripped and became Beterbiev s number 1, try it? Oh wait he’s trying everything to get out of it. Why doesn’t Loma move up and fight Crawford? That would sell tickets. Why is Spence not moving up to fight GGG? He’s old past his prime that would sell tickets and be awesome! Because it’s hard as hell to do that. We saw that with Mikey Garcia.
Krusher never threw a power punch
Amen. Nothing but a BS sparring session. Kovalev never put anything on his shots. FIX!
That had fixed fight written all over it. Kovalev never pushed. When he landed that one good shot, oops! I better not do that again, and ran the rest of the fight. Canelo fights are getting ridiculous. And I do somewhat like the guy.
I had Canelo losing to Trout, Lara and GGG twice. I’d rather not watch him when the opponent has to knock him out to win.
No doubt about it Dean. I agree except for the Trout fight. I would throw in fighting in another city besides Vegas as well.
Canelo lost the first GGG fight.
They waited 2 years after beating Cotto for GGG to age before fighting him the first time, second time they needed clenbuterol.
Jacobs was a legit decent challenge.
Kov was fresh off a tough fight against Yarde, had no time to rest and recover and was a shadow of the fighter he’d been.
Yeah, boxing need Conelo, the cherry picking drug cheat.
How the hell would they know he’d be a shell of himself after that Yard fight? That is completely ignorant because they tried to pay him extra to skip that fight and fight on September. Lara was an ugly fight. Close, GGG I felt won the first but he lost the second. You have to understand how they score fights to understand why Canelo gets knods on cards. He rarely gives up ground, he has effective aggression except 1st GGG fight. Has great defense while moving forward and standing his ground. Once again no one has answered why they aren’t criticizing Loma for not moving up to Crawford. Spence moving up to fight GGG or either Charlo. How come me Beterbiev isnt immediately fighting Bivol. Nobody fighting Bivol. Bivol wants to move down so he can get a fight. You guys are just haters and hold no water in any argument whatsoever.
agreed Anthony J. I had Canelo losing to Tripple G the first fight but Canelo simply outboxed him the second fight. Canelo has already stated he is willing to fight Smith or Saunders. Either of those fighters are tough as nails.. BUT before he goes in with either one, he deserves a tune up fight. Everybody moans and groans when someone of his profile takes a tuneup but in reality he isnt the first to take a tune up and he wont be the last. These folks expect him to operate like a freaking Clydesdale and work, work, work. Their CRAZY
yes, GGG waited two years for Canelo after the Cotto fight. what was the rush. Canelo was aging too. GGG had been calling Canelo out for quite a long time.. Reason…GGG likes to go after smaller fighters. Makes his power look and feel much stronger like that. Canelo had a few fights to help him adapt to the big strong fighter in GGG. We all know GGG is strong and hits like a freight train, but Why didnt GGG jump up in weight to answer the call out of Ward while he was waiting.. any answer to that?
To be fair, Canelo was coming into his prime, while GGG was fading and his skills were diminishing.
I don’t buy it that he was adjusting to the weight as next he fought Khan, Liam Smith, neither were middleweight.
Don’t get me wrong Canelo is a helluva fighter with great skills, I just don’t like the way he seems to pick the weakest fighters in a division so he can add another title to his list, reminds me of Ray Leonard in the late 80s….and what’s with his recent habit of trying to get fighters to agree a fight with only 2 months notice? Something smells about that.
Why didn’t GGG move up for Ward? I don’t know, could be many reasons, like he’s natural fighting weight is middle weight, he’s not moved up since and is still at MW…. Sure, his management might have advised him against it, but thats just speculation.
Jim Bob: ok, u make a good point. It does seem that Canelo targets the weaker opponents lately. I can definitely agree with that. IMO he gets the weaker ones cuz those r willing to fight. The weaker opponents are the only ones that are willing to take a descent paycheck. They have nothing to lose, while the bigger names are asking for way more than they r worth. Lets be honest here. Some of the big names may have made 1.5 million for their last fight IF they were lucky. When Canelos name is mentioned as an opponent, They want 4 or 5 million to fight him. They want more than they r worth, so he moves on to someone else. Again, thats my thoughts. I cld be wrong
as for the GGG vs Ward, he didnt move up cuz he knew he wld have to face another power puncher who had excellent skill. His power wld be neutralized and wld have to rely on skill. He said hell no. GGG wld rather a fighter move up to his weight class to fight him at his comfort zone. Thats why he called out Canelo, Mayweather, Brook, and even Vanes Marytrosian which is a blown up welterweight.
Ward ran away from GGG, escaping up to light heavyweight to avoid the fight altogether
I’m not a Canelo fan AT ALL but what you are saying simply isn’t true. He fought Mayweather (top of the mountain), GGG (twice), Cotto, Lara, Trout,Jacobs and Kovalev (move up in weight and stopped him). What “legit” opponent are you looking for? Who should he fight to satisfy you Tyson Fury?
It would be easier to say you simply want him to lose or that you hate him because he’s associate with Oscar.
Exactly Hawn! Well said!
We want Canelo to fight a talented Middleweight – Charlo or Andrade just like Canelo and GGG was ordered to do by the organization they hold titles for. Simple as that. I hope you get paid for battling for Canelo. He’s just looks plain bad right now. Milking the sport and not giving the fights the fans want to see. All you have is excuses why were not seeing “the face of Boxing” take those fights. I dont see recall you giving Wilder any credit agreeing to the toughest matchups in his division.
Boo Boo and Charlo need to fight each other or GGG to get a Canelo fight. Period! Canelo got his shots fighting the biggest names. Period!
.. And Hector Camacho beat Roberto Duran twice and KO’d Ray Leaonard…. Does that make him great too?
In boxing timing is (almost) everything (as well as having the judges seemingly favour you)
Picking fighters at the right time is clever, but I’m not sure it’s in the true spirit of being a warrior.
I know people like Canelo, rightfully so, scooby Doo is dead on. I dare him to put him in the ring with benavidez
But a promoters job is to protect there fighter and get him the most and Oscar is doing that
Just sucks from a fans perspective
Darrel, that would be a good fight, Canelo vs Benavidez. I agree on that. Everyone knows Oscar is a douche bag, we can ALL agree on that. the problem isn’t Oscar protecting Canelo as much as these top guys wanting Millions more than they are worth. Canelo is at the point of calling his own shots. He is a fighter before a business man. This is why he is pissed and fed up with Oscar. but when it comes down to negotiating a deal, these guys price themselves out like Callum Smith did.. Saunders is more than willing, lets hope they can make that fight and we can see a Canelo vs a Benavidez in the near future.
you can add the over-rated Basketball, so damn glad the ratings are low & hope it breaks, Oscar is afraid to admit it, ain’t
HAHAHAH Oscar is a clown!!! No one cares about Canela anymore. Everyone knows he’s a protected fighter who is taking a page out of the Mayweather playbook and handpicking fights, making guys come up two weights, waiting until fighters are old or they feel they can beat them…. the list goes on. When Canela fights I definitely don’t get excited.
If no one cares about Canelo then why are you here wasting your time commenting about him?? Haha!
Bunch of haters can’t get Canelo out of your head!
….because this article is about Canelo. What else are they supposed to comment on here? Canelo is the face of boxing right now, but don’t tell me he is trying to fight the best right now. Oscar is definitely on his cherry-picking game right now. There are legit champions and contenders Canelo could be fighting. I say BJS beats him.
He said no one cares about Canelo. If no one cares then he wouldn’t be here commenting about him. Listen to what I said dummy! Lol!
You’re another hater that can’t keep Canelo out of your head.
you’ll say the same bs. His stock is falling and that shows people are losing interest.
“Listen to what I said dummy! Lol!” We cant listen, you typed it. dummy lol
Well, if Oscar wants objective fans to create a high demand for Canelo fights, then Oscar needs to present a viable opponent that makes objective fans think Canelo may lose and/or may have difficulties – similar to a past opponent like GGG.
It’s time for Oscar to get Canelo in the competitive mix because there remains solid opponents to fight at 168. Canelo will always have a solid base of subjective fans. However, to increase objective fan support, Oscar will need to avoid predictable victories for Canelo. Canelo is a grown a*s man with PLENTY of money, so get Canelo in competitive, unpredictable fights that objective fans are unable to easily determine a winner – which will create plenty of boxing debates and/or deep analysis among objective fans.
agree with you E-MAN. that was very well put.. but for this to happen, Canelo first needs a good descent tune up fight. He’s been out of the mix for quite a bit of time. After a tune-up, Oscar shld let him run wild. I’m talking Andrade, Charlo, Smith, Saunders, and even Benavidez. After Benavidez’s last fight, I think Canelo would have made that fight much more competitive with him.
Hey Oscar, you’re part of the problem. In the ONLY fight you put on, Vergil Ortiz was a 100:1 favorite. Stop promoting mismatches. P.S. No one wants Canelo vs. Yildirim.
Well said point!!!!!
and yourself………………..how exciting
maybe beterbiev
its needs a circus show. businessmen trained for 8 weeks to fight a top ten ranked woman. no headgear, 8 oz gloves. 3, 2 minute rounds. who wouldn’t pay to see that. i would.
I think Oscar meant that it’s a f**king shame that he is not making money during these times. The scam is up. Each Canelo fight from here on will generate less and less PPV buys.
Boxing is rich with talent right now. We’re about 2 years away at max from another great boxing boom where every month will have at least one great matchup.
Oscar. Call Bivotkin or Beterbiev.
Just because you (Oscar) say it doesn’t make it true. What are you doing, taking a page from Trump, say something over and over still doesn’t make it true. The recent numbers is not a true reflection on the sport of boxing, the world is faced with something a bit more pressing…a global pandemic!! You plan to trout Canelo out there in a pay-per-view fight against an opponent that will make him look great. The U.S is facing an unemployment rate that has not been seen in decades, food shortage and price increase has most families afraid, BOXING isn’t important at this time, especially a spoon feed pay-per-view bout. There has been some very competitive fights on ESPN and Showtime….get your priorities together, oh and stay RETIRED!!!
UFC – style “bender” v Romero – biggest fight this year / worse fight of the decade. Pure hype / aimed at WWE weirdos – best “fighter” is kabib – possibly the most boring athlete in sport in and out of the ring cage or court. McGregors promos the only thing keeping the “sport” alive
If you think Conor is keeping the sport “alive” you’re obvious not a fan. Have you been watching all of great fights in Conor’s absence? No once man holds up the sport. Conor got rag-dolled by Khabib and he quit.
Yep saw that – McGregor wanted to stand and trade last man standing balls to the wall brawl = excitement – Kabib dives on the ground and grabs his feet. 20 mins later it ends – then it gets exciting again when punches are thrown in the crowd etc. kabib is beyond boring the sooner he retires the better. He will kill the sport with his negative boring first approach the John Ruiz of Mma.
Oscar must be on that coke again. Canelo is a proven great fighter but he is NOT Mayweather. I’ve never bought him as the face of boxing.
Boxing doesn’t need Canelo, they need to recover from Mayweather vs Pacquiao. Both failed to entertain the masses on the largest stage ever. UFC has been putting on high level matches such as Justin Gaethje vs Tony Ferguson / DC vs Stipe 3 / Yan vs Aldo/ Khabib vs Gaethje / Jon Jones may be move up to the HW division.
Boxing is full of promoters who don’t get along therefore denying fans of big fights. The best boxers don’t want to fight each other / dodging and the fights sucks. We get a bunch of no-namers putting on dull fights. That’s the problem.
Yes We need Canelo. We need him to fight Charlo, Beterbiev…..Somebody, not a setup or dead body. None of the fighters are fighting each other. That is why people faded out of boxing to UFC! Look at this character Crawford. Has not fought Thurman, Garcia, Spence, Porter, etc. How about Bivol vs Beterbiev. How about Charlo vs Saunders. I can go on and on every division. Its a waste of talent. Especially Terrance Crawford. This guy does not fight anyone!
I met Crawford in Vegas – he was walking through the crowds after Fury Wilder 2 – he was shouting “no selfies no autographs at the top of his voice” I think I was the only person that recognised him. That geezer is a tool. MMA guys are a lot friendlier – probably because a few years ago they were working in video libraries for $5.99 an hour until that scene died.
agreed Niki. He is quite the arrogant prick for being someone that hasnt been put to the test yet. I thinj he needs a good ass woopin to humble him a bit
Agreed. Crawford is even a worse cherry picker than Chicanello.
Agreed. Crawford is a worse cherry picker than even Chicanelo
Disagree! Its canelo the worst cherry picker Crawford just started cherry picking canelo has a history of cherry picking and duck ing and dodging.
agreed David.. very much agreed
The working class folks are hitting on “hard times”. No decent jobs to be had and the future does not look much better. During the last Great Depression and into the 1950s fights were radio broadcast live to homes. Give the working folk a break and broadcast the fights on the radio. I listened to Lewis fight many times on the radio and remember those events more then any tv fight. Dump the tv and internet all advertising anyway.
Boxing doesnt need any more fixed or mismatched fights
Boxing needs Canelo but boxing does not need a de lay Hoya comeback!
I like the charlo brothers. But do you really think they can beat Canelo.Canelo is to slick and to strong I think he kos them both.I just do not see anyone beating him right Now
I wouldn’t go across the street to watch Canelo fight. Oscar needs to quit trying to make him the focal point of the sport, so Oscar makes more money. The sport doesn’t need Canelo or the fixed results that undeservedly favor him. I had Canelo losing BOTH fights to GGG, and will never hold Canelo in high regard because of the way GGG was robbed.
Boxing needs Canelo to stop ducking and dodging elite competitions and stop cherry picking tune ups.
All I can say is that is so many Canelo haters in here but here we go. When you say that Canelo is cheery picking opponents I have not seeing that. Is true that he has fought fighters that came from two division down but those fighters are amazing. Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Josesito López, khan. On the same weight class Charlo, Saunders, and Smith want to earn more money than Canelo.
I like how people say they are done with boxing yet they are here commenting about boxing. They say it over and over and over buy they still watch the fights. Go watch another sport then. But for real this time since your so tired of it.
*but not buy
Canelo is a coward. He fights hand picked opponents just like Mayweather used to…smaller slower older or fighters not in their prime. Oscar DLH has done him no favors as he’s tried to stretch his income by keeping his fighter a winner against overmatched opponents. I love boxing but it has become a sham sport. The fighters that deserve big money fights are not getting them. When HBO stepped away from boxing – it hurt the sport tremendously. Some of the best fights were on HBO and while I applaud Showtime for sticking w/ the sport – we’re just not getting good match-ups. I think that MANY feel that Canelo also got to “gift” decisions against GGG was the nail in the coffin in the sport as well. I have not paid for 1 fight since they made the move to DAZN as the PPV avenue for fight fans to use. Really a shame that boxing has deteriorated so badly.
I don’t know why people today continue to compare the sport of Boxing with MMA. I am a longtime fan of the Sweet Science, and overwhelmingly prefer it to MMA, which in my view, is just glorified wrestling. Again, absolutely no interest in MMA.
If Boxing went away, I still wouldn’t watch MMA, preferring even KickBoxing over it. If MMA disappeared tomorrow, I wouldn’t even remember it existed.
Having said that, if Canelo steps up the quality of his opponents, that would be good for the sport after the pandemic is under control. What the sport of Boxing does not need, is De La Hoya.