Oscar De La Hoya has secured his place in the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He doesn’t think much of the men who will be joining him from this generation.
With wins over the likes of Pernell Whitaker, Julio Cesar Chavez, Ike Quartey and Fernando Vargas, the six-division world champion was, at one stage, the sport’s biggest star.
Following his 45-fight career – in which he only lost to Felix Trinidad, Shane Mosley, Bernard Hopkins, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather – De La Hoya threw himself behind his promotional outfit, Golden Boy.
One of his standout stars was Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, but the pair went through a bitter split and continue to trade verbal jabs. De La Hoya was the latest to take a shot in a video posted to social media criticising the current era of fighters.
“The fighters today don’t think they’re getting paid enough, or they’re scared of taking an L. For example, Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward weren’t the most popular fighters and weren’t getting paid the most during their time but we respect them today because they fought their hearts out and came back for another day.
The UFC fighters, they get paid peanuts and they go out on their shields. They fight like motherf***ers. But in boxing we know the outcome of the big fights these days before the fight even starts. Look at the [latest] Canelo fight, Edgar Berlanga went on a month-long victory celebration because he lasted 12 rounds? He f***ing lost and acted like it was a good thing. This is where we’re at, because it comes from the top. Look at the nineties – you had prime Tyson, Chavez, myself, Trinidad – we were warriors. We fought everyone. We created sexy mega-fights that everybody looked forward to watching … In the 2000s, boxing had Mayweather and it became boring and defensive for a decade.
Most recently, we have Canelo, who is the most boring but most popular boxer today … no personality yet makes tons of money. Essentially, Canelo is the King of the fattest nastiest, sloppiest era. Everything is cyclical, so let’s hope we can go back to the warriors of the nineties. And Canelo, f**k you.”
Canelo is a four-weight world champion and a first ballot Hall of Famer when he hangs up the gloves. In his 66 fights he has lost just twice, to Mayweather and Dmitry Bivol, and he is unbeaten in his current super-middleweight class.
If fans were to side with De La Hoya on his comments, the one example that would be used is David Benavidez. The undefeated 27-year-old has been chasing a fight with Alvarez for some years now and he’s widely recognised as the unified champion’s biggest challenge. Despite the appetite, Canelo hasn’t shown in an interest.
