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Home » Oscar De La Hoya: Eddie Hearn doesn’t know boxing, got Canelo beat

Oscar De La Hoya: Eddie Hearn doesn’t know boxing, got Canelo beat

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  • 3 min read

Oscar De La Hoya has piled in on the Eddie Hearn debate by stating the U.K. promoter doesn’t know boxing.

Hot on the heels of Floyd Mayweather CEO Leonard Ellerbe, who also blasted Hearn’s ability to put on fights in the United States, De La Hoya bemoaned the handling of Canelo Alvarez vs. Dmitry Bivol.

Ellerbe claimed the fight sold 120,000 Pay Per View buys on cable and satellite and made only nine million dollars on the gate. Canelo’s contract with DAZN guarantees him $34.5m per fight, which would have been a considerable loss.

Eddie Hearn ability

De La Hoya believes Hearn’s inability and lack of knowledge of the U.S. market damage the fighters he’s attempting to work alongside.

“It was a lose-lose situation,” De La Hoya said. “Nobody knew Bivol whatsoever.

“I would have promoted Bivol to get a bigger name because nobody knew who he was before he fought Canelo. He was irrelevant. He was nobody.

“We were actually going to face him against [Gilberto] Zurdo Ramirez, but Canelo has a promoter now who doesn’t come from the boxing world. He doesn’t know the fight game, and he got Canelo beat.

“It was the wrong style. Las Vegas had no buzz whatsoever.”

Canelo Oscar De La Hoya
Amanda Westcott

Oscar De La Hoya

On Hearn’s reputation in the sport since trying to break America, De La Hoya added: “He’s a character, that’s all it is.

“The business of boxing, to build superstars, to build champions, takes a lot of strategy. It takes a lot of insight, knowing the fighters, knowing their styles, and that’s one thing I’m an expert at.

“When I built Canelo Alvarez when he crossed the border from Mexico at the tender age of 18 years old, and I promoted his first fight, we had a vision.

“We knew exactly what we had in our hands. We built him to be a monster.

“Look, he’s doing a lot of fights that mean nothing, especially here in the U.S.

“He might be a good promoter in the U.K. He’s building European fighters, but that means nothing here in the U.S.

“I know this is a business. He’s partners with DAZN, and obviously I’m partners with DAZN, but let’s just stay in our own lanes and do our jobs right.

“Let me focus on the U.S. market and build champions, and boxing will keep thriving for many years.”

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