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The last several
months have seen something that perhaps had never happened during the past
decade at Golden Boy Promotions - Oscar De la Hoya dutifully coming to its
offices in downtown L.A. and putting in an honest day’s work. His days letting
someone else run the shop while he was ensconced in Puerto Rico are over, especially
since the resignation of his CEO, Richard Schaefer several weeks ago.
When asked about
the status of his company, post-Schaefer, De la Hoya told Maxboxing on Tuesday
afternoon, “Since the resignation of Richard Schaefer, well, things are moving
forward. We are making fights, we are moving forward with Golden Boy and its
business and we have a big fight coming up this weekend. We are preparing and
getting ready with the July 12th mega-pay-per-view event with [Saul]
‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Erislandy Lara, so things are moving.”
Was De la Hoya
surprised when Schaefer - with whom he was butting heads - suddenly resigned?
“Absolutely,” he
answered, “because all along I've been saying that I wanted Richard to stay so
we can work it out and for weeks prior to his resignation, so it caught me by
surprise.”
But you get the
sense this was a bit of gamesmanship from Oscar and his legal team, a
cat-and-mouse game between the two sides. If this were a marriage, not only
were these two sleeping in separate bedrooms, one of them was spending nights
at a local hotel. It was bound for a divorce. When asked how his relationship
was with Schaefer at the end, De la Hoya stated, “It was a working
relationship; obviously, just our focus was to make fights and move forward
with Golden Boy Promotions.”
Sources say that
at the end, it was rather tense inside the Golden Boy offices with different
factions existing between the walls. Last week, COO Bruce Binkow (thought to be
a “Schaefer guy”) resigned his post. There is plenty of speculation throughout
the industry that Schaefer simply did not act in the best interest of Golden
Boy Promotions and did not uphold the fiduciary interest of the company. There
is a very good possibility of litigation against the former Swiss banker.
“Well, that's up
to the lawyers; that's up to my lawyer, Bert Fields, who, in my eyes, is one of
the best lawyers around and there's really no other comment on that. But it's
up to them,” said De la Hoya. One of the key issues regards exactly whom is under
the Golden Boy banner and which fighters were allowed to use their dates and
television slots as free agents advised by the influential Al Haymon. “I have
an in-house lawyer at Golden Boy and we know who's under contract with Golden
Boy. We have several fighters under contract and we're very optimistic,” said
De la Hoya, whose company is staging a card at the StubHub Center this weekend
that will be televised by Showtime.
Boxers such as
Shawn Porter and Erislandy Lara have made it clear their allegiance is more to
Haymon that Golden Boy. De la Hoya remains undaunted by the prospect that some
of those who were believed to have been on his roster simply aren't or will
soon have expiring deals.
“Just like we
built every fighter that is out there now like Adrien Broner, like Robert
Guerrero, the likes of Gary Russell Jr., Danny Garcia and Deontay Wilder; I
mean, we're in the promoting business. That's what we do and we're the best at
it,” said De la Hoya. It has to be noted that the aforementioned fighters are
with Haymon and some - like Russell - are said not have official Golden Boy
contracts.
“I have the two
top matchmakers - if not in the U.S. - in the world with Eric Gomez and Roberto
Diaz. So we're optimistic that we will continue to do what we're doing and give
the fight fans what they deserve,” he continued. When asked his relationship
with Haymon, De la Hoya says, “Great. Al Haymon has been good to work with and
I've had several conversations with Al that have been very positive and we know
he has a lot of fights and all the talent. It's important that we keep a
wide-open communication and one thing about Al is that he has a very close
relationship with Eric Gomez because they’re the ones who make all these fights
happen.
"So my
relationship with him has always been one that has been a good one.”
One Haymon
client who made it clear he would have nothing to do with De la Hoya's company
in the wake of Schaefer's resignation is Floyd Mayweather, who has made his
intention clear to return to the ring on September the 13th, most
likely at his familiar haunts in Las Vegas. There's one problem: as of now, he still
doesn't have a promoter’s license in Nevada. Every one of his bouts since 2007
has been under the auspices of Golden Boy.
De la Hoya
points out, “Well, look, obviously Golden Boy has the date locked in at the MGM
[Grand] in Las Vegas and obviously we'll be discussing any further details soon
because first we're focusing on this upcoming fight on this weekend and then
we'll be moving onto our next dates we have in July, including the ‘Canelo’
card and so on. So we're moving full steam ahead; we're making fights. And my
goal is to just give the fans the fights that they want.”
Speaking of
which, what about his pledge to end the “Cold War” with Top Rank Promotions by
co-promoting a fight by the end of 2014 (this weekend’s bout between Russell
and Lomachenko doesn't count given it was a purse bid situation).
"Absolutely,
absolutely,” he said when this issue was broached. “I promised the fans and I
will deliver.”
So De la Hoya is
back, perhaps really in charge of his company for the first time ever. But
being a power broker is nothing new for him; only now, he's doing it from
behind a desk. Being in this business of hard knocks is what he loves and
beyond that, perhaps it’s what he needs as he transitions to the next stage of
his life, sober and happy.
“Absolutely,
like I've been here at the office every single day, the first one here and the
last one out,” he states. “This is what I love doing; boxing is my life. Boxing
is what I breathe and this is what I love doing. When I started Golden Boy in
2002, I had a vision; I had a plan and a lot of times in any business, you have
to shake the tree. So life goes on and you move forward and for me, yes,
absolutely, it's like riding a bike. But now, it's not like I'm riding a
tricycle, I'm riding a...”
A Harley-Davidson?
“Oh, baby,” he
says laughing at the thought.
SOE
Here's my latest
contribution to SportsonEarth.com in which De la Hoya talks about his recovery
from substance abuse and his road ahead:
AUGUST 2ND
On this date,
HBO will present a split-site doubleheader featuring Sergey Kovalev in Atlantic
City and Brandon Rios in Las Vegas. Here's the ticket info for those cards:
Tickets go on sale at tomorrow (June 20th) at noon for
The Russian Wrecking Ball, Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev's (24-0-1, 22 KOs), return
to Atlantic City, NJ to face undefeated Australian challenger, Blake “Il Capo”
Caparello (19-0-1, 6 KOs) for his WBO Light Heavyweight World Title at Revel
Casino Hotel on Aug. 2. Visit ticketmaster.com (key word: Main Events) or call 800-745-3000 for
tickets. Ticket prices are: $55, $80, $160 and a special number of
limited VIP tickets for $250 which include waitress service.
Promoted by Top Rank®, in
association with Tecate, tickets to the Brandon Rios vs. Diego Chaves/Jessie Vargas
vs. Anton Novikov world championship fight go on sale Friday, June 20 at 10 a.m.,
PDT and will be available for purchase at www.cosmopolitanlasvegas.com or through
Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000 and www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets are
priced at $50, $75, $100, $150 and $200. Room/ticket packages will also be
available.
TNR
Here’s the latest episode of “The Next Round” with Gabe Montoya
and Yours Truly:
FRIDAY
FLURRIES
My understanding is Ruslan Provodnikov and
Artie Pelullo have a rematch clause with Chris Algieri but it doesn't have to
be an immediate rematch... On August 7th, Jerry Belmontes-Abner
Cotto will headline “Golden Boy Live!” on Fox Sports 1 in Corpus Christi,
Texas...Bad Dog Productions, the original promoter of Rances Barthelemy is the
latest entity to file suit versus Haymon...By the way, are you as creeped out as
I am by those DirecTV commercials with that guy married to the “wired-up”
lady?...Joel Embiid has the look of a Portland Trailblazer big man; doesn't
he?...So what's going on in the World Cup? Is South Korea still on track to win
the whole thing?...
I can be reached
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