It can be said that Oscar De La Hoya is not a fan of Eddie Hearn.
The 49-year-old head of Golden Boy Promotion was inside the T-Mobile Arena last month to watch his former guard become a superstar Canelo Alvarez lost the battle at the hands of Dmitry Bivol.
His attempt to become a light heavyweight champion for a second time proved a bridge too far for the size, speed and skill of the WBA title holder.
The person who is currently wearing the shoes that De La Hoya used to wear when advertising for Canelo is Eddie Hearn. In his appearance on this week Time MMA with Ariel Helawni the former world champion was asked if he would take Canelo against Bivol.
“No, never,” he replied.
Why not?
“Because it’s a win-lose situation. No one knows Bivol. I’m going to promote Bivol for a bigger name because no one knows who he is before he fights Canelo. He is not involved, he is nobody. We will actually face him against [Gilberto] “Zurdo” Ramirez. “
Then there was De La Hoya’s attempt in a knockout.
“Canelo had a promoter who clearly wasn’t from the boxing world, didn’t really know about the fighting game and he beat Canelo. That is the wrong style. Las Vegas has no noise. I was sitting there supporting Canelo. Canelo is the superstar of the game right now. Eddie Hearn didn’t do justice to Canelo when he faced him against Bivol. ”
De La Hoya, like Hearn, works with broadcast partner DAZN, who provide the Golden Boy and Matchroom shows. And when an exclusivity deal brought Hearn and the streaming service together on a permanent basis, it allowed polarizing Brit to truly break into the US market. His efforts did not impress everyone.
De La Hoya said: “He’s fighting that doesn’t make any sense, especially in America.
“He may be a good promoter in the UK and he’s building European fighters, but that makes no sense here in the US.”
“He’s a DAZN partner, obviously I’m a DAZN partner now but let’s just stay on our own and do our jobs right. Let me focus on the US market and build champions and boxing that will continue to thrive for years to come.”
It didn’t get any easier for Canelo Alvarez, whose next game saw him defend his undisputed super-middleweight championship against his great rival Gennadiy Golovkin at T-Mobile Arena on September 17.
