By Chris LaBate
Floyd Mayweather Jr. explained his recent hostility towards Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya. In several published interviews, on the social networks, and during HBO's series "Mayweather-Ortiz 24/7" - Floyd has attacked De La Hoya on several fronts. Mayweather was angered by some of De La Hoya's televised comments on the 24/7 program.
During an episode of 24/7, De La Hoya was giving a verbal boost to Mayweather's upcoming opponent, Victor Ortiz, by telling the young boxer that Mayweather's recent opponents were all flawed for one reason or another. He said Shane Mosley was old and fighters like Ricky Hatton and Juan Manuel Marquez were too small.
Mosley, Hatton and Marquez were all promoted by De La Hoya's company. Mayweather said he was angered at how De La Hoya downplayed his own boxers, but picked them to win when the pre-fight promotions were playing out. He also took offense at De La Hoya calling him an "old fighter."
"I don't like how Oscar De La Hoya first, like I told Mosley - you guys probably don't remember. I told Mosley that he wasn't a partner in the company - in Golden Boy. I told Mosley that a long time ago. Ricky Hatton was [De La Hoya's] fighter and then he talked bad about Hatton - how Hatton was small and then Marquez - how Marquez was small. Now, me - I was old. And then he talked about Mosley and how Mosley was old," Mayweather said.
"I mean, you're supposed to uplift fighters. We're here, like I said before, boxing is not dead, but the sport is dead when you've got guys that's been around the sport - you know one of the guys that paved the way in the sport is downplaying his own fighters. That's why, like I said before, I take my hat off to [Golden Boy CEO] Richard Schaefer because Richard Schaefer has done a hell of a job with those fighters. We can't even call it Golden Boy Promotions anymore. We got to call that Richard Schaefer Promotions."
Mayweather faces Ortiz on Saturday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.