By Steve Kim
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya didn't get a chance to see the much talked about event that pitted Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor this past weekend at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Mayweather, the best pure boxer of this past generation eventually stopped McGregor - the UFC's biggest star - in ten rounds under the Marques of Queensberry Rules.
De La Hoya had his own business to attend to that night as his company was promoting Miguel Cotto's victory over Yoshihiro Kamegai at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
But 'the Golden Boy' who was very vocal in opposition of Mayweather-McGregor, believing it was an insult to the sport of boxing told BoxingScene.com:
"Look, Mayweather did what he had to do and I still think it was a fraud. I still think that obviously he could've ended it anytime he wanted. It's ironic how he wanted to bet on himself in the tenth round but they turned him away."
De La Hoya's comments stems from recently published reports that Mayweather attempted to place a wager on himself to beat McGregor by knockout by end of the tenth. Reportedly, Mayweather attempted to place a $400,000 wager on the fight ending under 9.5 rounds at -200 odds. A source told ESPN that there were concerns over the legality of a fighter betting on anything other than a straight win.
Much of De La Hoya's frustration over that fight probably stems from the fact that for much of the summer it may have overshadowed his event on September 16th that has Saul "Caenlo" Alvarez facing middleweight king, Gennady Golovkin.
Today at the LA Live there was an public workout featuring both boxers as the efforts to put this promotion into overdrive the next few weeks began.
But De La Hoya is confident that his pay-per-view card will not be affected in any way by this past weekend.
"No, not at all, all the MMA fans - and look, I respect McGregor at what he does in the UFC, I respect Mayweather what he does in boxing - it's just two different sports and I'm glad that the UFC fans had a taste of boxing and what boxing is all about and I'm just telling them, look if you want to see a real boxing match with the two best fighters on the planet today with 'Canelo' and 'Triple G' - then watch September 16th," De La Hoya stated.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.
