Golden Boy Team Responds To Floyd Mayweather's Latest Tirade
By Jake Donovan
It’s been nearly nine years since their own in-ring clash, but the thought of Floyd Mayweather and Oscar de la Hoya co-existing remains, to this day, a pipedream.
The long-standing rivalry between the sport’s two biggest box-office attractions of the 21st century continues to rage on, as evidenced by Mayweather’s latest public appearance. The recently retired former pound-for-pound king was ringside at the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the January 23 launch of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on free-to-air network Fox.
PBC was created by Mayweather’s former adviser Al Haymon, with whom he enjoys a cozy relationship even after his announced retirement last September. Haymon and de la Hoya were involved in a bitter split in 2014, the move playing a major role in the massive transformation of Golden Boy Promotions. Included in the reshaping of the California-based company was the forced resignation of longtime CEO Richard Schaefer, who was also present at Saturday’s show and remains close with Mayweather.
De la Hoya was obviously nowhere to be found given the key elements of the event, the closest to his on-scene presence is the statue in his honor residing outside the venue. Still, his managed to come up in conversation as Mayweather couldn’t help but take his latest series of shots
at his former ring rival, whom he outpointed in their May ’07 super welterweight title fight yet still remains embroiled in a petty feud, largely spent trading jabs through the media.
“It’s good to work with guys like Richard Schaefer and Al Haymon, guys that’s drug free, guys that wear suits, guys that dress like men,” Mayweather told Fighthype.com. “Of course, you know I’m sending shots at Oscar De La Hoya. I’m always sending shots at him because I don’t respect a man that dress in drag.”
de la Hoya refused to take the bait in the latest round of throwing shade, in fact having previously requested a truce between the two. His suggestion came after writing a scathing letter to Playboy magazine condemning Mayweather’s career – which was highly profitable but also marred by his perceived decisions to seek the lowest risk - and business decisions.
Mayweather’s team responded at the time, with the former five-division champ himself grabbing center stage in the latest go-round. As such, the staff at Golden Boy Promotions refuses to sit by and watch the head boss take any additional abuse, but instead put things in proper perspective.
“Clearly Floyd is bored in his likely temporary retirement, and with his (Mayweather Promotions) company struggling, he has little to do but flick jabs at the country’s No. 1 boxing promoter,” Golden Boy spokesman Stefan Friedman suggested to BoxingScene.com, on his own accord. “Of course, Floyd is hardly one to talk about personal flaws, and he might want to take a long look in the mirror before he pops off again.”
The past to which Mayweather referred was of the time when de la Hoya was battling personal demons. The “drag” part is in reference to a drug-fueled cross-dressing scandal in which de la Hoya was involved shortly after their May ’07 event, which at the time believed to be the height of their rivalry. De la Hoya was trained by Floyd Mayweather Sr., who for years – and at that time - was barely on speaking terms with his son. Mayweather Sr. made the conscious decision to sit out that fight, as he watched from ringside while de la Hoya received instruction from Freddie Roach.
At the time, the event established industry records for the largest live gate, most Pay-Per-View buys and highest-grossing PPV event of all time. The financial marks have since been twice surpassed, both involving Mayweather. His 12-round win over Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez – for which Golden Boy Promotions served as a co-promoter – surpassed the largest live gate and PPV revenue marks, while last May’s decision win over Manny Pacquiao destroyed every conceivable PPV and financial mark that will likely never be broken.
Along the way, Golden Boy served as lead promoter or co-promoter for every Mayweather fight from his win over de la Hoya in 2007 through his repeat victory over Marcos Maidana in Sept. ’14. In all, the two sides worked 10 events together, although the theme for each was Schaefer promoting Mayweather while de la Hoya backed whatever Golden Boy fighter appeared on the B-side.
Golden Boy stood tall with Mayweather during a dark point in his career, where he faced a lengthy jail sentence stemming from domestic violence charges against the mother of his children. Mayweather plead no lo contendre in favor of a reduced jail sentence, which also prevented the embarrasment of his own son taking the stand to testify against him.
“All told, seven women have accused Floyd of at least one form of domestic abuse over the last 13 years,” Friedman points out. “These allegations have led to convictions, jail time and financial settlements for domestic battery, harassment, coercion, and other crimes -- all against women.
Mayweather returned to the sport in 2013, signing a record-breaking contract with Showtime after a career spent with rival HBO. Six fights came of the deal, for which involved Golden Boy Promotions.
de la Hoya was not on hand for Mayweather’s win over Alvarez, as he admitted himself into a rehabilitation in efforts to conquer his battle with alcoholism. He was deemed clean and sober and fit to return to society in 2014, the same year in which he would gain enshrinement in the International Boxing Hall of Fame for his 16-year career that saw him collect 10 titles over six weight classes.
Upon his return to the promotional world, de la Hoya – inspired by his new lease on life – made it a mission to return to doing business with all promotional companies. Included in his plans was a desire to extend an olive branch to his former promoter, Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. The two companies were in a feud deemed by pundits as boxing’s Cold War, given the size of their respective stables and the fact that their fighters were frozen out of a number of intriguing matchups as a result.
Plans for reconciliation didn’t at all sit well with Schaefer, leading to an internal rift and eventual company implosion. Sweeping changes were made once de la Hoya learned of plans for Schaefer and Haymon to essentially gut Golden Boy from the inside and use the stable as the foundation for the planned PBC series.
From that point onward, the mission has been to rebuild Golden Boy and serve as an industry leader without having to sell its soul. The 2015 boxing season was intended as a bounce back year – it instead saw the company reemerge as among the top promoters in the game, doing so in a year where the PBC movement saturated the market to the point of slowing competitors to a crawl.
The good fortunes enjoyed by Golden Boy came as a result of de la Hoya making amends for his past and gaining clearer perspective on his future as a promoter as well as in life in general.
His team believes it’s high time that Mayweather ditch the mud-slinging campaign and instead follow de la Hoya’s lead in terms of self-redemption.
“Oscar has repeatedly apologized and taken responsibility for his past actions that have only hurt himself and his family," Friedman notes. "Floyd has yet to do the same for numerous women who have suffered at his hands; literally.
"Maybe Floyd should take responsibility for the damage he has inflicted on those outside the ring before throwing stones.”
Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
Golden Boy Team Responds To Floyd Mayweather's Latest Tirade - Boxing News
thats that toussaint in him talking when he got at jackson at the end
feeling though.
