By Victor Salazar
New York - Promoter Oscar De La Hoya has been in some of the biggest pay-per-view fights in boxing history. Most notable were his pay-per-view fights with Felix Trinidad and Floyd Mayweather Jr. (49-0, 26 KO’s) - which still sits as the second most successful pay-per-view fight in history.
After he defeated De La Hoya, Mayweather slowly took over as boxing’s biggest star.
The five division world champion retired after his fight with Andre Berto in September 2015. After months of speculation, Mayweather officially announced that he was coming out of retirement to take on the biggest star in Mixed Martial Arts, Conor McGregor (0-0), in a junior middleweight boxing match.
Mayweather vs. McGregor takes place on August 26th in Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
The same venue will play host to the fall showdown which features De La Hoya’s biggest star, Canelo Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KO’s), who takes on Gennady Golovkin (37-0, 33 KO’s) on September 16th - just three weeks separated from Mayweather-McGregor.
Many feel for pay-per-view purposes, Mayweather-McGregor is the more lucrative fight and will take some business away from Canelo-Golovkin.
Promoter Oscar De La Hoya does not see it that way.
"I don’t think it does anything to our fight,” De La Hoya told BoxingScene.com. “I actually hope the fight does well and it turns out to be a good fight. But maybe that’s wishful thinking when you compare a guy in McGregor that is 0-0 and has never fought in a professional boxing ring versus the best boxer of our generation who is 49-0. I hope it’s a good fight but it’s hard to fathom it. It is what it is but we’re looking forward to our real fight September 16th.
De La Hoya has received criticism for not making Canelo-GGG fight much earlier but says it was the right time to do so and the fans have shown to it by the reactions to it on social media and at the press conferences.
“The reaction has been great, and it’s the right time,” stated De La Hoya. “We’re making big fights. We’re making the fights the fans want to see. Canelo wanted this fight and I did too. Golovkin is at the peak of his career and I think Canelo is almost at his peak. But everyone wanted this fight and we made it happen-bottom line.”