It’s safe to say that Oscar De La Hoya is not a fan of Eddie Hearn.
The 49-year-old head of Golden Boy Promotions was inside the T-Mobile Arena last month to watch his former protégé turned superstar Canelo Alvarez suffer a loss at the hands of Dmitry Bivol.
His attempt at becoming light heavyweight champion for a second time proved a bridge too far against the size, speed, and skill of the WBA title holder.
The man now in the shoes that De La Hoya once wore when he promoted Canelo is Eddie Hearn. During his appearance on this week’s MMA Hour with Ariel Helawni the former world champion was asked if he would have put Canelo in against Bivol.
“No, never,” he replied.
Why not?
“Because it was a lose-lose situation. No one knew Bivol at all. I would have promoted Bivol to get a bigger name because no one knew he was before he fought Canelo. He was irrelevant, he was nobody. We were going to actually face him against [Gilberto] ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez.”
Then came De La Hoya’s attempt at a knockout blow.
“Canelo has a promoter now that obviously doesn’t come from the boxing world, doesn’t really know the fight game and he got Canelo beat. It was the wrong style. Las Vegas had no buzz whatsoever. I was there sitting ringside supporting Canelo. Canelo is the superstar of the game right now. Eddie Hearn didn’t do no justice to Canelo when he faced him against Bivol.”
De La Hoya, like Hearn, works with broadcast partner DAZN who provide coverage of Golden Boy and Matchroom shows. And when an exclusive deal put Hearn and the streaming service together on a permanent basis it allowed the polarising Brit to really get his teeth into the American market. His efforts haven’t impressed everyone.
“He’s doing a lot of fights that mean nothing especially here in the U.S,” said De La Hoya.
“He might be a good promoter in the U.K and he’s building European fighters, but it means nothing here in the U.S.”
“He’s partners with DAZN, obviously now I’m partners with DAZN but let’s just stay in our own lane and do our jobs right. Let me focus on the U.S market and build champions and boxing will keep on thriving for many years to come.”
It doesn’t get any easier for Canelo Alvarez, his next fight sees him defend his undisputed super middleweight championship against his great rival Gennadiy Golovkin at the T-Mobile Arena on September 17.