Oscar De La Hoya Comments on Miguel Cotto Dropping WBC Middleweight Title

Former boxing champion turned president of Golden Boy Promotions Oscar De La Hoya is not happy with Miguel Cotto just four days before the 35-year-old is set to fight Saul "Canelo" Alvarez for the WBC middleweight title.

Alvarez, a boxer with Golden Boy, will still fight Cotto on Saturday at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino despite the fact Cotto was stripped of the WBC middleweight title on Tuesday for refusing to pay a $300,000 sanctioning fee, per Dan Rafael of ESPN.com.

De La Hoya expressed his frustration with Cotto's decision not to pay the fee, per Rick Reeno of BoxingScene.com: "It's a disgrace. It's a disgrace to the promotion. It's a disgrace to the sport to do something like that. Every fighter dreams of fighting for the WBC middleweight championship, and to do something like that is a disgrace. Look, I can assure one thing—Canelo is ticked off about it."

Even though this does not affect whether Canelo can earn the title, it certainly takes away from the promotion of the event, which is what set De La Hoya off. 

Rafael reported the WBC will award Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) the title with a victory over Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs). Cotto will be lineal champion with a win, while WBC interim titleholder Gennady Golovkin will benefit by being named full WBC titlist.    

Although this doesn't bode well for De La Hoya, in actuality it doesn't change anything with the fight. Canelo will hold the title if he is victorious, while Cotto made a business decision that made sense to him.

Rafael seems to think De La Hoya is overreacting:

De La Hoya can complain all he wants, but the fight will go on as scheduled. Of course, it wouldn't be a boxing match without some drama leading up to it.