Oscar De La Hoya believes Saul ‘Canelo‘ Alvarez’ star power is set to take a serious hit.
The fighter-turned-promoter guided a significant part of Canelo’s career before a bitter split and legal case ensued. The two, particularly De La Hoya, regularly still trade shots via the media.
De La Hoya’s latest criticism of the pound-for-pound star is his matchmaking. He feels Canelo – who holds three of the four major super-middleweight belts – is avoiding David Benavidez and taking an easy touch in number one contender Edgar Berlanga.
“Okay so we’re a week away from the boxing match that nobody asked for and the UFC event that everybody will be watching. Canelo’s fighting Berlanga – another snooze fest. They’re trying to sell a pay-per-view for $90 at $500 minimum in-person? It’s just robbery at this point. To pay for another lame Canelo fight that will go the distance against a sub-par opponent.”
De La Hoya then predicted the event – which goes head-to-head with the UFC’s event in The Sphere – will sell less than 100,000 pay-per-views. It would be a first for Canelo, who has regularly topped 500,000 and been over the million mark on some occasions.
“I’m the PPV king and [the] Canelo vs Edgar Berlanga fight will not exceed 100k homes. Nobody is paying $90 for this snooze fest. Just speaking the facts as always.”
Before Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao took over, De La Hoya was the biggest box office star in the sport, generating a reported $700 million in pay-per-view income.
