It is fair to say that Oscar De La Hoya and Saul ‘Canelo‘ Alvarez have a fractious relationship.
The pair shared some significant years together as fighter and promoter after the legendary De La Hoya founded Golden Boy Promotions and signed Alvarez in 2010 when he was emerging as a talented young fighter.
Under De La Hoya’s guidance, Canelo rose to become one of boxing’s biggest stars, winning multiple world titles in various weight divisions while becoming a global icon.
However, their relationship became strained over time in particular regarding contractual and promotional disagreements. In 2020, Canelo sued Golden Boy Promotions and DAZN and sought to terminate his deal claiming breach of contract and dissatisfaction with how his career was being handled. The lawsuit resulted in Canelo parting ways with De La Hoya and becoming a free agent. The pair still fire shots at one another.
Recently speaking to Club Shay Shay, De La Hoya looked back on the good days and revealed that he gave Canelo some advice that he failed to heed, leading to his first loss.
“I told [him] do not fight Floyd [Mayweather], because you’re too young, you have no experience. He was 21 years old flexing his muscles saying he could take on the very best but he got schooled. It wasn’t even close.”
Canelo faced Floyd Mayweather at a catchweight of 152lbs when the American was 36 and coming off wins over Miguel Cotto and Robert Guerrero. It was a majority decision but there was little doubt that Mayweather won clearly in a performance that has aged well given what the Mexican has went on to achieve.
That, along with a light-heavyweight loss to Dmitry Bivol in 2022, remain the only blotches on Canelo’s ledger despite now having had 65 fights in all. Next time out he defends his three super middleweight world titles against Edgar Berlanga live on DAZN on September 14 after which many people hope he will finally agree to fight David Benavidez.
