Comments Thread For: De La Hoya to Boxing Fans: Don't Support Mayweather-McGregor

[El Gitano]

Oscar De La Hoya really doesn't want boxing fans to pay to watch a Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Conor McGregor fight. The retired six-division champion is so opposed to even the idea of Mayweather-McGregor that he posted an impassioned plea to boxing fans Thursday on Facebook. De La Hoya's promotional company is in the process of finalizing a site for the highly anticipated middleweight championship showdown between Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez and popular Kazakh knockout artist Gennady Golovkin.
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[*TonyMontana*]

Oscar De La Hoya knows the sport still hasn’t fully recovered from the letdown — debacle, even — that was the long-awaited 2015 clash between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.

Now it appears inevitable Mayweather will come out of retirement for a massive-money showdown this fall with UFC star Conor McGregor. McGregor already signed his end of the deal with UFC founder Dana White, and now it’s up to “Money” to come to terms.

With all the money that stands to be made for what should amount to more “easy work” for Mayweather, as the 49-0 fighter likes to say, it would be a surprise if this fight fell apart at the 11th hour.

The Golden Boy Promotions Chairman/CEO and Hall of Fame boxer hopes the fight won’t take place but isn’t naive. So De La Hoya did the only thing he could. He sent a loud-and-clear message to his legion of fans via Facebook on Thursday:

To my fellow boxing fans:

I write in the hopes that together we can protect the sport of boxing.

With each passing day, it looks more and more likely that the circus known as Floyd Mayweather Vs. Conor McGregor will be coming to town in the near future.

As undercard fights start to take form, athletic commissions give their blessings in exchange for millions of dollars and the fighters start counting even more cash, one group will eventually be left to make sure this farce doesn’t occur.

We, the fans, who are the lifeblood of our sport.

Boxing is starting to dig out of the hole that Floyd and Manny Pacquiao shoveled by waiting seven years to put on a fight that ended up being as dull as it was anti-climactic.

2017 has started off as a banner year for boxing. Joshua vs. Klitschko; Thurman vs. Garcia; Golovkin vs. Jacobs; Canelo vs. Chavez. All four of these fights – and many more — have brought the fight game back and reinvigorated interest from the ever-elusive casual fan.

But if you thought Mayweather/Pacquiao was a black eye for our sport – a matchup between two of the best pound-for-pound fighters that simply didn’t deliver — just wait until the best boxer of a generation dismantles someone who has never boxed competitively at any level – amateur or professional.

Our sport might not ever recover.

I fully understand the initial attraction from any fan of combat sports. McGregor is almost certainly the best pound-for-pound MMA fighter. Floyd is Floyd — the most dominant boxer of his time.

But success in one sport does not guarantee success in another. Far from it. And let’s be clear, these are two different sports — from the size of the gloves fighters wear, to the size and shape of the ring, to the fact the one sport allows combatants to use their legs to strike.

Think about it, beyond Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders, what other athlete has successfully competed in two sports in the modern age? And Jackson and Sanders both played both baseball and football throughout their high school and college careers before going professional.

Furthermore, it’s not like McGregor would be fighting a good fighter, let alone a mediocre one. He would be fighting the best. To use a bit of an extreme analogy, I happen to be a pretty good golfer. Could I potentially hold my own on one of the second-tier tours? Maybe. But would I be able to compete with Rory McIlroy, Jordan Speith or Sergio Garcia? Of course not. Nor would I think to try.

Now, I know critics will say that I’m only writing this letter because my company is promoting what will be the culmination of an outstanding boxing year when Canelo Alvarez takes on Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in September, and I don’t want anything to distract attention away from that fight.

But my interest is in the health of boxing as a whole. It always has been. And if Floyd were to come out of retirement to take on someone like Keith “One–time” Thurman, Errol Spence or some other top welterweight, not only would I applaud the fight, I’d be the first one on line for a ticket.

That kind of fight is what the fans – and I am a fan first — deserve.

Which brings me back to the circus.

Floyd’s and Conor’s motivation is clear. It’s money. In fact, they don’t even pretend it’s not. But it’s also a lack of consequences for when the fight ends up being the disaster that is predicted. After this fight, neither of them will need us anymore. Floyd will go back to retirement — presumably for good this time with another nine-figure paycheck — and Conor will go back to the UFC.

It’s a win-win for them. It’s a lose-lose for us. We’ll be $100 lighter and we will have squandered another opportunity to bring boxing back to its rightful place as the sport of kings.

At this point, only we can shut the circus down by making it clear that we won’t pay to see a joke of a fight and telling our casual-fan friends that they shouldn’t either.

Sincerely,

Oscar

I'm against the fight myself
But to call for a boycott like this is pretty low
Even for a dude that did.....

[JJRod]

Well at least Oscar complemented Floyd saying best boxer of our generation.

Other than that this reeks of jealousy. Lame on Oscar's part.

[Eff Pandas]

Wasn't this dude talking about Canelo vs McGregor a couple weeks back? Or was that Canelo saying he'd fight McGregor?

[HanzGruber]

Did you actually read that? lol I sure as *** ain't. He said yesterday canelo ggg does 3 mil buys. What a moron

[The Big Dunn]

I knew ODH hated Floyd but this takes the cake. LMFAO!!

If Floyd/Conor do fight ODH is going sniff half of Vegas.

Mitchell Kane how do you feel about this?

[Eff Pandas]

I'm against the fight myself
But to call for a boycott like this is pretty low
Even for a dude that did.....

I'd argue this isn't THAT low based upon the evidence of the picture you posted. Oscar can go wayyyyyyyy lower lets be honest.

[Redd Foxx]

Says the man who brought us such classics as Khan v Canelo, and Canelo v Chavez "he's for reals this time" Jr.

[Floyd is TBE]

And yet he wanted Canelo to fight McGregor. Oscar hating ass is scared Mayweather is going to overshadow him again

[Come∂ian]

Drunk Oscar wanted to make Canelo vs Conor a few months ago.