By: Sean Crose
Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather have never been big fans of each other. Going back to the time before even the super fight the two men had over fifteen years ago, there was tension, if not outright hostility, between the two. Mayweather, who ended up winning the close 2007 battle, was young and brash at the time, while De La Hoya was still arguably the sport’s biggest star. Now, emotions are running high again, at least on De La Hoya’s part. Because De La Hoya feels that Mayweather is now standing between him and his protégé, Ryan Garcia.
While it is true that De La Hoya’s relationship with Garcia, his star fighter, has taken a difficult turn in recent months, it was surprising to see images of Garcia going for a night run with Mayweather in recent days. Garcia has since said that he no longer wants to fight the red-hot Devin Haney, as he himself had indicated he would do, opting instead to target the exciting but seemingly limited Roland Romero. Being Garcia’s promoter, De La Hoya is clearly not impressed. In fact, he’s been angry enough to go public.
“Pre-race with Floyd = Ryan wants Haney.” De La Hoya posted on Instagram on Wednesday. “After the race with Floyd = Ryan wants Rolly.” But that was just the beginning of things. “Golden Boy has worked with Ryan Garcia since he turned professional,” De La Hoya continued, “and together they have made him the biggest draw in boxing. We will make his fight with Rolly a big event, like we always do.” However, De La Hoya wasn’t done and saved the most notable part of his position for last. “Floyd, if you want to give Ryan the secret to ring defense, that’s great,” he said. “Aside from that, if you’re still a promoter like it says here, fuck you.”
While both De La Hoya and Mayweather are rightly considered all-time great fighters, both are also successful promoters. In other words, it can be said that men are still competitors. And Garcia, a popular, hard-hitting Californian with the ability to attract casual fans, is one of the most famous fighters in the world right now. While he doesn’t appear to possess the generation-defining talent that De La Hoya and Mayweather once did, Garcia remains an extremely lucrative asset to any banner he fights under.
