By Edward Chaykovsky
Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya has bounced back on his feet after a bitter falling out with longtime company CEO Richard Schaefer early last year.
The two former best friends saw their relationship crumble due to a conflict of opinion on the direction of Golden Boy.
After being with Golden Boy from the start, and by De La Hoya side for a decade, Schaefer submitted his resignation last June and walked away from the company.
Shortly after Schaefer walked away, De La Hoya's filed a multi-million dollar arbitration claim against him.
Although the details of the legal suit were kept under wraps, insiders familiar with the background have stated that De La Hoya was alleging that Schaefer intentionally allowed promotional contracts with numerous fighters to expire - in order for powerful manager/adviser Al Haymon to sign them up.
"Contracts were coming up. I asked, 'This is our business. How can we promote a fighter who's not signed to us?' " De La Hoya said to the Los Angeles Times. [Schaefer told me] 'I'll take care of it.' Never happened. We let so many contracts expire. After a few, you're thinking to yourself, 'Hmm, well OK, maybe he's too busy. Maybe he'll get to it next week.' But after 10, 15 fighters, you're like, 'What's happening here?' "
Because there were no promotional contracts in place, Golden Boy was forced to deal with Haymon-managed boxers on a fight by fight basis.
During much of this period, De La Hoya was fighting his substance abuse problems. Once he was able to over those demons, he says the relationship with Schaefer began to change and he unexpectedly resigned from Golden Boy.
"When I finally cleared my head, when I found myself, he knew it," De La Hoya said. "I saw a change. He couldn't look at me in the eyes, didn't want to be around me. When he came to … resign, he was so nervous, came in shaking. He says, 'Oscar, I don't feel comfortable around here anymore,' gave me the papers and left … just like that. Then, I just saw everything. Everything just flashed. No fighters. This was all staged. All a master plan."
"The betrayal, it's a stab in the back. Because what happened to me in my personal life in that period of time was sad, difficult for a lot of people to handle, especially me. But when you see a friend down on the canvas, you don't step on him."
Schaefer emailed the paper, disagreeing with De La Hoya's version of the events.
"Oscar's 'selective' memory does not surprise me, but disappoints me," Schaefer wrote in an email to The Times. "We had a great run together and I am very proud of what I have achieved during my time at Golden Boy. But I have moved on. Golden Boy is in my rear-view mirror. I wish Oscar and his team at Golden Boy all the best and hope that all his dreams are coming true."
The two of them reached a undisclosed settlement in January, which allowed the two of them to go their separate ways, and a large army of Haymon-managed fighters walked away from the company as well - to join Haymon's ever growing fight series, Premier Boxing Champions - which is televised on ESPN, NBC, CBS, Spike TV, Bounce TV, Fox Sports and Showtime.
Among their numerous ventures, De La Hoya's company has several major shows coming up, including two of the most anticipated fights of the fall - Miguel Cotto vs. Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez on November 21 and David Lemieux vs. Gennady Golovkin on October 17th.
