Oscar De La Hoya has sent a scathing message out to a Mexican boxing legend.
‘The Golden Boy’ began his professional career back in 1992, shortly after he captured an Olympic Gold Medal at the Barcelona games of the same year.
He went on to win world titles in six weight classes throughout the course of his tenure, defeating the likes of Julio Cesar Chavez Sr, Arturo Gatti, Ike Quartey and Fernando Vargas amongst a number of others.
De La Hoya turned his attention to the promotional side of the sport after drawing the curtain on his career back in 2008, working with a number of highly rated fighters over the years under the Golden Boy Promotions banner.
Speaking on the Un Round Mas podcast, retired Mexican great Juan Manuel Marquez accused De La Hoya’s company of ‘stealing’ from him.
“He says, ‘I see you’re not renewing. We want 20% of your earnings from the Pacquiao fight.’ They accused me of stealing from them. They called me a thief. I told Oscar, sure, 20%? No problem. In my mind, I thought, yeah [right], I’ll give it after you stole from me for five years? … I don’t care if he hears this. Let him know. He tried to charge me a percentage for the Pacquiao fight.”
De La Hoya responded to these sensational claims made by Marquez, claiming the details of the Mexican’s deal was ‘standard practice’.
“Professor De La Hoya here to educate bitter, broke, retired fighters who think it’s okay to slander my company’s name without any repercussions. Over the last few months it has become popular for retired fighters to clout-chase by alleging that I some how screwed them over decades ago when they fought for Golden Boy.
Juan Manuel Marquez went on a podcast where he bitched and cried that I took 20% of his pay-per-view purse for the Pacquiao fight in 2012. Juan, you moron, you negotiated that contract with your own promoter and lawyer and you signed it. You agreed to it all on paper. Plus, 20% of a pay-per-view purse is the standard amount for a promoter to be paid. You think I should work for free?
And what makes this worse is that before you were a boxer you were an accountant but you still couldn’t handle your own finances. Listen, dude, I’m sorry you’re broke, but how you spend your money is not my problem. I have always paid everyone exactly what they are contracted and entitled to.
Juan, let’s be honest, you only heard this because you heard Canelo defame me at the press conference in May … I hate to see former fighters end up like this, it’s sad and pathetic. But slandering me is only going to get you in trouble, dude. So keep my name out of your f***ing mouth.”
Marquez called time on his career back in 2014, having won world titles in four weight classes including the lineal lightweight championship. He shared the ring with the likes of Manny Pacquiao, Marco Antonio Barrera and Floyd Mayweather Jr to name just a few.
