Oscar De La Hoya must rue the days he lost Canelo Alvarez and Deontay Wilder as the Golden Boy boss mulls selling his company.
De La Hoya is beginning to find notoriety for amassing a history of fighters getting built up to the world level before moving on to pastures new. Canelo and Wilder are two high-profile examples.
The most significant body blow for Oscar was the former pound-for-pound king and undisputed super-middleweight champion Canelo.
Mexico’s finest became the sixth big name to leave Golden Boy over the years.
Danny Garcia, the Charlo Brothers, Adrien Broner, and many others were part of De La Hoya’s stable.
Some believe Ryan Garcia, Golden Boy’s current star, will be the next to leave and join Canelo Promotions.
As De La Hoya said, he took Canelo and Wilder to the sport’s summit before finding a way to move on.
Canelo managed to execute his release from Golden Boy and follows Wilder and a host of others out the company’s door.
DEONTAY WILDER
Wilder went when Al Haymon branched out on his own with Premier Boxing Champions taking his large stable with him.
Discussing how Canelo and Deontay Wilder slipped through his fingers despite being the number one name in boxing, De La Hoya spoke to Sirius XM.
He said: “I cannot figure out exactly what we did wrong as a promotional company regarding Canelo.
“Everything we do at Golden Boy is by the book, and our track record speaks for itself.
“Other than Top Rank, Golden Boy is the only other promoter who can put on the biggest events.
“I still don’t know what we did wrong in terms of Canelo.
“We got Canelo to where he is now just we did for Deontay Wilder, Danny Garcia, Adrien Broner, and others.
“All I can do at this point is wish Canelo the best. I have to move on at this point and focus on building other champions.”
CANELO SNAKES
Asked whether there may have been outside influences in the Canelo decision, De La Hoya concluded: “Were there snakes in the grass who influenced Canelo? Hard to rule that out.
“There are people who whisper in general. It’s hard to know who specifically is getting in the ears of Canelo and other fighters.
“All we can do is promote the best we can for our fighters.”
Despite continually seeing his top stars move on, De La Hoya says his company is worth at least a billion dollars.
