Eddie Hearn and Oscar De La Hoya are at it again.
No strangers to the occasional verbal quarrel, the veteran promoters had some terse words for each other this past week in regards to Canelo Alvarez, the undisputed 168-pound Mexican star whom Hearn currently promotes and De La Hoya once promoted.
Alvarez is set to fight London’s John Ryder May 6 at Estadio Akron in Alvarez’s hometown in Guadalajara, Mexico, on DAZN.
De La Hoya, who heads Golden Boy Promotions, kick-started the latest tiff by suggesting his former client had “regressed” as a fighter, and that the choice of Ryder and other “British fighters” was indicative of his decline. De La Hoya promoted Alvarez for the majority of his career, but they parted ways acrimoniously several years ago.
Subsequently, Hearn, the head of Matchroom Boxing, responded by calling De La Hoya an “idiot” and insisting that the “Golden Boy” might want to look at his own stable first before pointing fingers—particularly in regards to popular Mexican middleweight Jaime Munguia, who has been roundly criticized for his largely uninspired opposition thus far at middleweight.
Hearn also noted that it was only two fights ago—last May—that Alvarez challenged light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol and lost—so the notion that Alvarez is somehow coasting at this stage in his career Hearn finds utterly risible. Alvarez’s last fight was a highly anticipated grudge match with sworn rival Gennadiy Golovkin in September, which Alvarez won convincingly on points.
“Oscar De La Hoya said, ‘They’re (Golden Boy) stupid taking that (Bivol) fight,” Hearn told FightHubTV. “That was such a tough fight. They’re idiots. But all of a sudden he’s taking easy fights? I mean, 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. He’s never been able to accept that. But what he should do is respect a fighter that he knows deep down will fight anybody and has continuously done that his whole career. I think he needs to look at some of his own matchmaking, particularly Zurdo Ramirez this weekend, and particularly Jaime Munguia, which has been absolutely horrific and embarrassing.”
Although they are, on paper, rival promoters, Hearn and De La Hoya are, in one sense, business partners, as they are the key content providers for DAZN. To that end, they have shared corporate interests.
Hearn and De La Hoya have also promoted shows together, most notably the light heavyweight title bout between Bivol and Gilberto Ramirez last November in Abu Dhabi.
“I don’t like it,” Hearn said of De La Hoya’s critique. “When people speak with emotion and anger they ignore the facts. If you want to look at the resume of Canelo Alvarez and the run that he’s had, and start criticizing him, you’re a complete idiot.”