Promoter Oscar De La Hoya is apparently eager to start working with fighters associated with Premier Boxing Champions.
On Thursday, the founder of Golden Boy Promotions, sent out a call-to-arms on social media directed at fighters associated with PBC, the management firm founded by influential powerbroker Al Haymon and features such fighters as Gervonta Davis, Deontay Wilder, Errol Spence Jr., Jermell Charlo, David Benavidez, Keith Thurman, and Danny Garcia.
De La Hoya’s appeal was prompted by the fact that PBC’s longterm deal with Showtime will close by the end of the year after it was announced last month that Paramount Global, the parent company of the premium cable channel, decided to cut boxing from its programming slate. The entire Showtime Sports department will fold as a result.
“Attention PBC fighters without a promoter contract, call my headquarters and let’s make some good fights happen,” De La Hoya wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
De La Hoya, of course, has a long history of antipathy toward Haymon and PBC and has not been shy about criticizing them in public. In particular, De La Hoya has often blamed boxing’s structural problems on Haymon and his seeming reluctance to cooperate on fights involving fighters from their respective rosters.
Haymon, who famously does not speak to the media and is rarely seen at fights, used to work closely with De La Hoya years ago before their bitter falling out in 2014.
PBC was Showtime’s exclusive content provider since 2013. Showtime will exit boxing after showcasing the sport for 37 years.
Showtime has two more PBC boxing cards it will televise before the end of the year: first on Nov. 25, featuring a super middleweight contest between David Benavidez and Demetrius Andrade; the second and last on Dec. 16 featuring super middleweight David Morrell Jr. against a to-be-determined opponent.
Haymon is reportedly in talks with various entities about a new deal, including Amazon Prime Video and DAZN.
Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.