Floyd Mayweather Calls Oscar De La Hoya 'Jealous' in Response to Playboy Letter

Floyd Mayweather Jr. has hit back at Oscar De La Hoya's claims that the undefeated fighter was "boring" during his career, calling The Golden Boy "jealous" of his success.  

Money retired from boxing earlier this year with a perfect 49-0 record, but De La Hoya penned a letter to be published in the December issue of Playboy, criticising Mayweather's tactics. But Mayweather responded swiftly over the weekend, per David Mayo of MLive.com:

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I think he's jealous -- jealous. The thing is this, I mean, you see Richard Schaefer is gone. Richard Schaefer built Golden Boy. Honestly, who wants to do business with Oscar De La Hoya? I really care about a fighter's well-being. I'm just saying if Miguel Cotto was my fighter, if Canelo was my fighter, they'd be a lot bigger than they are now.

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A feud between the pair is quickly gathering momentum, influenced by the fact Mayweather defeated De La Hoya via a split decision eight years ago in what was one of the latter's final bouts.

But the rivalry didn't end with De La Hoya's retirement as Mayweather then proceeded to tear through an assortment of fighters under the Golden Boy banner, including Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and legend Miguel Cotto. Mayweather went on to add disloyalty to the list of De La Hoya traits:

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I'm just saying how can Oscar even speak on something when he didn't even show up? He didn't show up at the Canelo fight. What are we talking about? Drugs, lies and adultery. And dressing in drag.

Me, as a fighter, I'm just saying, if I was a young fighter coming up, a guy that's lying, a guy that's on drugs, a guy that we don't know if he's going to show up, he's not 100 percent, I've only got to say one thing -- he couldn't be my promoter. If I was a young fighter coming up, I would not want Oscar De La Hoya as my promoter. Me, as a fighter, I couldn't trust him.

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De La Hoya was absent for the 2013 bout between Mayweather and Alvarez, and the Daily Mail's Jeff Powell reported at the time the boxing great had checked himself into a rehabilitation facility the week of that bout.

That prompted Mayweather to mock his former opponent's unfortunate circumstances on Instagram, but the 38-year-old issued a swift apology, per USA Today's Mike Foss. It would appear that subject is no longer off limits.

It's also likely that a conflict of interests between the duo's promotions plays a part in their rivalry. De La Hoya has long been the face of Golden Boy Promotions, while Mayweather Promotions is a growing power in the industry. 

However, as pointed out by the Toronto Star's Morgan Campbell, Golden Boy has made money off Mayweather's rise in recent years, adding a touch of what could be interpreted as hypocrisy to his comments:

Mayweather defeated Alvarez, Cotto and so many more during his time in the ring, but De La Hoya pointed to his final win, a unanimous-decision waltz over Andre Berto in September, asking, per Playboy: "How to describe it? A bust? A disaster? A snooze fest?"

Having almost made it to the magic 50 without a blemish on his record, there's no arguing with Mayweather's blueprint; getting the job done was always his priority. However, ESPN personality Skip Bayless believes The Golden Boy was right to pick flaws in Mayweather's game:

Of course, De La Hoya isn't the first to fire criticism in Mayweather's direction; all too often do the elite of any industry earn the ire of their peers and rivals.

The Golden Boy even went so far as to tell Bleacher Report that Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight Ronda Rousey could defeat Mayweather, although in the wake of her knockout loss to Holly Holm, he may now not be so sure:

Perhaps De La Hoya's most stinging insult was to claim "we've already forgotten" Money's fights, with 26 of his 49 wins coming via KO, while The Golden Boy knocked out 30 of his 39 defeated foes.

Two legends of the sport can no longer do their talking in the ring, and it doesn't look like this war of words is likely to simmer down anytime soon.