Oscar De La Hoya Responds to Bob Arum's Canelo Alvarez, Gennady Golovkin Claims
Golden Boy promotions’ Oscar De La Hoya has hit back at Top Rank boss Bob Arum’s claims that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez made a mistake in calling out Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in the aftermath of his win over Amir Khan.
Arum had suggested in an interview with BoxingScene.com's Radio Rahim that the Mexican made an error in brazenly stating he would fight Golovkin at 160 pounds, claiming he would have handled things differently. They’re comments that De La Hoya has issued a bullish response to, per Steve Kim of BoxingScene.com:
"Well look, I understand that Bob is obviously looking to stay relevant. His last marquee fighter is retired, that's Manny Pacquiao, and frankly it's none of his business.
His comments are particularly ridiculous considering that he was one-half of the equation that turned millions of fans off to our sport by taking six years—six years—to make the biggest fight to be made [Floyd Mayweather vs. Pacquiao] and then gave us a total dud.
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De La Hoya also stated that a bout between Canelo and GGG will take place “well, well before that absurd time frame” in reference to the bout between Mayweather and Pacquiao; the illustrious duo were initially set to fight in 2010, but it took until May 2015 before they stepped into the ring for what was an underwhelming battle.
The Golden Boy chief is currently in Florida taking part in a trial, but he insisted that “negotiations are going to start again once we finish our business.”
It’s the fight so many in the boxing world want to see. Canelo continued his brilliant run of wins with a sensational knockout against Amir Khan in his last outing, while Golovkin has gathered massive momentum in winning all of his 35 professional fights, 32 inside the distance.
The bout seemed to take a step closer to coming to fruition last month, too, as Alvarez stated that fighting at the 160-limit would be “no issue” to him after beating Khan, per Bad Left Hook. The Mexican also invited the Kazakh down to the ring after his brutal knockout win.
It’s clear that Golovkin is keen to get this one scheduled, too, as he revealed on his official Twitter feed:
Fighting at the middleweight limit is natural for Golovkin, and a bout at 160 pounds, on paper at least, would suit him. After all, Canelo has fought at a catchweight 155-pound limit in his last two bouts, including his gritty win against Miguel Cotto in December.
Arum is certainly right in one sense, as the claims made by the Mexican triggered a lot of excitement among many boxing fans. The supplementary details aren’t important to plenty who tune in for these massive fights; they just want to see two of the biggest stars in the sport battle it out in the ring.
However, Kim is unsure whether or not we will see these two square off between now and the end of the year:
De La Hoya seems keen to get this one done quickly, though, and if he was to schedule a bout before 2017, it would endear him to plenty. As the Golden Boy noted himself, for a long time fans were deprived of the biggest fight in the sport due to various complications; it’d be a shame if this one was to be put on the back burner, too.
It’d be a brilliant chance for Canelo or Golovkin to thrust themselves to the absolute summit of the sport following the retirements of men like Mayweather and Pacquiao. Hopefully debate on which man would win will be settled a lot quicker for the former duo than it was for the latter.
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