What promised to be an exciting three nights of world-class boxing last weekend in New York City and Riyadh proved to be anything but. That is, of course, until Sunday night rolled around and Nayoa Inoue and Ramon Cardenas delivered in a big way in Las Vegas, Nevada, providing fight fans with an instant classic that saw “The Monster” storm back after getting knocked down early to secure an eighth-round technical knockout (TKO) win.
Bur Friday (May 2) in Times Square featuring a trio of big fights that included Ryan Garcia vs. Rolly Romero, Devin Haney vs. Jose Ramirez and Teofimo Lopez vs. Arnold Barboza Jr. didn’t deliver much action, other than Lopez putting on a good performance and Rolly pulling off the huge upset in rather anti-climactic fashion against “King Ry,” who reportedly made $20 million in defeat.
On Saturday (May 3), Canelo Alvarez did what most expected him to do by defeating former IBF middleweight champion, William Scull, to once again become undisputed king in the division. His performance, however, was not one that will be putting him up for any type of awards, though it did secure him a huge $80 million payday, and a mega-fight against another pound-for-pound great champion in Terence Crawford for the fall.
After the dust settled, the critics started to pour in their options on the lack of action and dazzle many were hoping to get. Among them was Oscar de la Hoya, the boxing legend who didn’t mince any words with his dismay toward the lack of action that was provided by some of the biggest names in boxing.
According to “The Golden Boy,” it could all boil down to lack of motivation due to the high guaranteed fight purses Turki Alalshikh is dishing out.
“I’m here in the Bahamas, disrupting my vacation, because I just have to speak on the — of the 11 fights that I just saw, with no knockouts,” De La Hoya said (transcribed by Bad Left Hook). “I mean, look, let’s give credit where it’s due. I think Rolly, congratulations. You came out and fought, had a great win. I’m happy for you, really am. You’re a nice kid.
“Teofimo is the only one that probably came out and tried to entertain the fans with what he had to work with. And I feel bad for Turki, I really do. He’s paying all this money to the fighters to turn out and fight, and give the fight fans what they deserve. And those are great fights — show up. Not just dancing around like Bill Haney and Devin Haney.
“I mean, my gosh, he was tagged a couple times by Ramirez and he just gets on his bicycle and just starts running for his life. Jesus. Anyway, he’s done,” he added before going in on Canelo, whom he doesn’t exactly have the bet relationship with.
“Canelo — Jesus, lord. Come on. You’re getting paid all this money to fight against a runner, who we all knew was going to run, a Cuban style. You chose him and now you say you hate fighting runners. Well, don’t fight runners. We all know who we want to see you in against. That’s Benavidez. Go against Benavidez, fight Benavidez. He won’t run. What’s wrong with that? It’s a good fight. But it’s sad. It starts from the top, too.
“When you’re fighting for the money and not legacy, every young fighter just follows that pattern and it’s not fair. It’s not fair to the organizers, to the people who are putting up the money, the promoters.” [Oscar gets an off-screen reminder to mention ‘the fans’]. “The fans, especially! The fans want to see good fights, let’s go!
“It’s tee’d up for everybody. Turki’s bringing out his wallet and paying everybody and the least we can give him is good fights. Go out there and fight. Anyway, I had to do this improvised clap back. I’m just frustrated. I’m frustrated but, hey, we got Crawford vs Canelo. I’m looking forward to it — even though they’re both almost 40 — I’m looking forward. It’s a good matchup. But just show up and fight.”
Anyone care to (dis) agree with “The Golden Boy” on this one?
