By: Sean Crose
Hall of Fame fighter and Golden Boy Promotions honcho Oscar De La Hoya is apparently feeling pretty good lately. After taking part in the wily Devin Haney-Ryan Garcia press tour, the 51 year old promoter took to social media to simultaneously flex and encourage fighters from Premier Boxing Champions to reach out to him. “I’m making fights!” De La Hoya posted. “Who else is stepping up?? Where’s all the Hamon fighters?” The Haymon De La Hoya refers to is PBC honcho Al Haymon, a camera shy advisor whose organization appears (“appears” being the operative word here) to be falling on some tough times, having recently parted ways with Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford.
“The Hamonites are cringe,” De La Hoya stated mockingly some time later. Hamonites, for those who don’t know, are those individuals, particularly on the internet, who are fans of Premier Boxing Champions and its fighters. De La Hoya, whose had some tough times of his own, is now apparently amused by those who are displeased by the rumors that PBC is in some trouble. With that in mind, the demise of PBC has been predicted and even hoped for now for close to a decade. Boxing’s fan base can be quite tribal at times, and so it’s common to see a promotional outlet crumble to the sound of figurative cheers. PBC, however, hasn’t gone anywhere (what the future holds remains to be seen).
Regardless of what will or will not happen to Premier Boxing Champions, De La Hoya was clearly oozing confidence on Thursday. “I don’t give a rats ass what you say,” he stated robustly, “im back and im taking over!!!!” [sic]. De La Hoya then went on to suggest one particular matchup. “I wanna see morel vs Berlanga,” he said of super middleweights Edgar Berlanga and David Morrell. “What do you guys think ?” Not yet finished, De La Hoya went on to make a thinly veiled suggestion that next month’s PBC Keith Thurman-Tim Tszyu fight is something of a joke. Thurman, after all, has been rather inactive over the past several years.
“A fighter that hasn’t fought in years and a fighter that nobody knows is a recipe for disaster on @amazon,” he posted, “great job AL.” De La Hoya’s prediction for the PBC bout may or may not prove to be true. One certainty, however, is that De La Hoya was feeling pretty pleased on Thursday. Either that or the man was putting on quite a performance for the world to see.
