Oscar De La Hoya Should Really Be 36-9, 30 K0s
By Ralph Rimpell
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 10 May 2014
For the past few years boxer turned Promoter Oscar De La Hoya, Owner of Golden Boys Promotion, has always picked Floyd Mayweather?s opponents to beat Mayweather. To those of us who follow boxing, one might think this was done to promote the fights. How could a promoter expect to sell a fight to the public by saying that the opponent has no chance against the universally recognized pound for pound best fighter in the world? That?s simply bad business.
In the 90?s when Don King promoted Mike Tyson he always talked about how much of a challenge Tyson?s opponents would present to the then undefeated ?Baddest man? on the planet. Of course when Tyson was at his peak he would always annihilate the competition.
Mayweather is Golden Boy's ?Golden Goose that lays the golden eggs?, much like De La Hoya was to Bob Arum?s Top Rank promotional outfit. Prior to Saturdays fight, Oscar stated ?I have nothing against Floyd except he has beaten 5 or 6 of my guys? and since last Saturday?s fight between Mayweather and Maidana, Oscar has also stated ?Floyd should be 43-3?. He attributes three official Mayweather wins as loses to Castillo, Himself, and Maidana.
He further implied that Mayweather temporarily retired in the past to avoid giving him a rematch. Mixed messages are being sent. Golden Boy and Mayweather?s company co-promote Mayweather?s fights. There is no ?my guys? in reference to other fighters or at least there shouldn?t be. If there is a ?guy?, whether you like him or not it?s Mayweather who has transformed Golden Boy Promotions into the most powerful boxing promotional outfit in boxing today.
De La Hoya recently said he is willing to help train Marcos Maidana if there is a rematch between him and Mayweather. He is going on the premise that he should have been awarded the decision when he and Mayweather fought instead of losing a split decision and has the strategy to defeat Mayweather. That doesn?t even makes sense because he has already said Mayweather should have a loss on his record because of Maidana.
For the sake of the argument, what if Maidana was to beat Mayweather so bad in a rematch that Mayweather retired? Can Marcos Maidana replace Mayweather standing in Boxing? Would Golden Boy still wield same influence it currently has in boxing with Maidana? Why then would De La Hoya want to see Mayweather lose?
Mayweather signed a $200 million contract with Showtime and has three fights left on his contract. Golden Boy Promotions will benefit handsomely if they promote Mayweather?s last three fights. The aforementioned show that De La Hoya really does not understand the promotional aspect of boxing and Richard Schaefer is the true promoter and brains behind Golden Boy Promotions as rumored by boxing insiders. If Oscar doesn?t want to be a Promoter and he wants to see Mayweather defeated so badly, let him come out of retirement and request a rematch with Mayweather.
So what if De La Hoya is 41 years old. Isn?t there another Golden Boy fighter named Bernard Hopkins who is currently a world champion still fighting at the age of 49 years old? What has Oscar accomplished as a fighter?
Oscar De La Hoya is a former Gold Medalist at the 1992 Olympics and a former multidivisional professional world champion. He started out as a junior lightweight winning a title in that division. Along the way he picked up titles in the lightweight division, junior lightweight, welterweight, junior middleweight, and middleweight division. He brought excitement to the lower weight classes that had been missing since the days of Leonard, Hearns, and Duran. No one can take that away from him.
After Manny Pacquiao defeated him he retired and eventually became a fight promoter. Along the way he has gotten sidelined with drug addiction. Those issues are now supposedly in the past. Instead of doing what a promoter should do and promote his fighter he wants to criticize Mayweather?s fight record which stands at 46-0, 26KO?s.
De La Hoya?s retired with a fight record of 36-6, 30KO?s. Back in 1997 when he challenged Pernell Whitaker for the WBC welterweight title, many observers felt that he did not do enough to take Whitaker?s WBC belt. Many thought Whitaker had won. When he fought Ike Quartey in 1999, Ike Quartey outboxed De La Hoya for 11 rounds. Both fighters scored flash knockdowns early in the fight. Oscar fought like hell in 12th round and was awarded a controversial split decision victory. The most controversial victory was when he fought Felix Sturm for the WBO middleweight title. Sturm clearly outpointed De La Hoya over 12 rounds but was not awarded the decision. So when De La Hoya says records don?t mean anything he may be talking about his as well. He has at least 3 questionable victories on his record. Instead of his record being 39-6, 30 KO?s it should really be 36-9, 30 KO?s.
Ralph Rimpell (Rluvsboxing@aol.com)
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