Oscar De La Hoya hoped for nothing more than to have closed a deal for a terrific junior middleweight matchup ahead of his latest round of golf.
Instead, the Hall of Fame former six-division titlist and current chairman of Golden Boy Promotions felt compelled to add his two cents to an unfortunate development in talks between Vergil Ortiz and WBO 154lbs titlist Xander Zayas.
As confirmed by both boxers, the mouthwatering showdown was being explored by Top Rank (Zayas) and Golden Boy (Ortiz). The hope was to finalize a deal for what would serve as a DAZN pay-per-view headliner this December either in Las Vegas or Southern California.
Zayas, 22-0 (13 KOs), posted a portion of the conversation between Top Rank’s Carl Moretti and Golden Boy’s Eric Gomez on his social media, critical of the suggested proposal. Public reaction was largely unkind to the recently crowned WBO titleholder, including from Ortiz’s side.
“Playing beautiful Pebble Beach but I had to stop my golf. It's so frustrating,” De La Hoya said in a video posted to his Instagram account. “Boxing right now is just stale, especially here in America. Fighters don’t want to fight each other. Perfect example, Xander Zayas. We have a perfect fight for you on a silver platter. Pay-per-view. Let’s do it from Las Vegas.
“You keep saying you want to go to Puerto Rico? How? Your promoter has no TV [platform] whatsoever. Where are you gonna fight, fucking OnlyFans?”
De La Hoya’s TV remark was in reference to the recent expiration of Top Rank’s output deal with ESPN after eight years. Zayas, 22, headlined the final edition of Top Rank Boxing on ESPN on July 26 at Madison Square Garden Theater in New York City. The unbeaten Puerto Rican claimed a twelve-round, unanimous decision victory over Jorge Garcia to claim the WBO title.
The plan was always to return to the ring by December, whether in a unification bout or a similarly high-profile contest.
A showdown with Ortiz, 23-0 (21 KOs) would qualify as such an event.
Ortiz currently holds the WBC interim 154lbs title, but is eager to become a full titleholder, regardless of sanctioning body. The option to upgrade his current belt went away after it was confirmed that WBC full titlist Sebastian Fundora will next face Keith Thurman atop an October 25 PBC on Prime PPV event, likely from Las Vegas.
Golden Boy and Ortiz have since set their sights on Zayas, hopeful that the proposed timeline for the fight and the even revenue split would be enticing enough to move forward.
For now, it appears that Ortiz will have to look elsewhere for his next fight.
“Dude, we have DAZN. We have the pay-per-view,” De La Hoya said in comments directed at Zayas. “We have the date, you and Vergil, Mexico and Puerto Rico, it’s huge. What are you waiting for? Let’s do this.
“I mean, this era right here - I cannot wait for this era to finish; only the fighters that don’t want to fight and who are literally pussies. They want to do it for extra millions and this and that. No, let’s be real here. PPV, DAZN, Vergil Ortiz, Xander Zayas. Let’s do it, Las Vegas. What are you waiting for?”
Ortiz has not fought since a twelve-round, unanimous decision win over former WBA titlist Israil Madrimov on February 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Interestingly, Zayas was one of four names offered for the assignment, but it was decided by all parties involved in the event that Madrimov represented the most significant option for the stacked fight card.
The win by Ortiz marked the lone defense of the secondary WBC belt he claimed from Serhii Bohachuk in their Fight of the Year contender. Ortiz survived two knockdowns to win via majority decision last August 10 at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas.
