Oscar De La Hoya and Eddie Hearn have continued their ongoing feud in the aftermath of Devin Haney’s unexpected defeat to Ryan Garcia.
Although there had been many widespread concerns about his well-being in a rather tumultuous and controversial build-up that saw Garcia behaving erratically, drinking beer, insulting Haney’s religion march more, ‘King Ry’ stunned the world by dropping Haney three times during their highly anticipated bout at Barclays Center.
The 25-year-old emerged victorious with a majority decision, earning handsomely for his triumph despite having to pay a sizeable fine to Haney for missing weight, which also meant that he didn’t ask away from the fight with Haney’s WBC belt.
After Haney’s loss, Hearn, who co-promoted the boxer for the event, shared a photo of the two embracing on Instagram, but De La Hoya swiftly responded and criticised him for assuming Haney could easily bounce back from such a devastating defeat.
“You obviously never laced up the gloves just like Don King and the rest. You dolt know what it’s like to fight inside a ring, Guess what? I do and that beating will last for a while.”
De La Hoya wasn’t done there, adding another comment on a later post.
“Eddie for the sake of British Boxing just stay in the UK and promote, leave the real promoters to the US market where boxing matters. You had your opportunity wasting away hundreds of millions of dollars building nothing in the US.”
Hearn fired back following that comment, hitting out at De La Hoya over his views.
“Genuinely are you ok? You stalk me like a crazed fan. You had a great win on Saturday yet I consume your mind 24/7. Unfortunately for you, I am a global promoter with 18 World Champions (you have 4).
“I have big plans to work with everyone to grow the sport globally and have some fantastic talent in the US market. Genuinely wish you all the best and hope you can enjoy what you do.”
It’s somewhat unexpected that De La Hoya would react so quickly because it has been swiftly pointed out by boxing fans that De La Hoya was similarly supportive of Garcia following his loss to Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis last April when he was caught by a body shot which sent him to the canvas and he failed to ride again before the count of 10.
The ongoing tension between Hearn and De La Hoya was palpable during a recent encounter earlier this year when they participated in a moderated conversation with Chris Mannix.
During the discussion, they explored the potential for collaborating on a co-promotional fight. Despite the dialogue, it seems that their rivalry remains as fierce as ever, indicating that any cooperation between the two boxing promoters may be unlikely in the near future.
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