De La Hoya says Canelo fighting Bivol was “dumbest move” by promoter

By Boxing News - 05/14/2022 - Comments

By Sam Volz: Golden Boy Promotions boss Oscar De La Hoya says the promoter for last Saturday’s event made the “stupidest move” by letting Canelo Alvarez take on Dmitry Bivol for his WBA light heavyweight title.

De La Hoya doesn’t come right out and name the promoter that he’s speaking about, but it would seem evident that he’s referring to Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, who put the Canelo vs. Bivol fight together.

Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs) is the one that wanted to go up to 175, daring to be great with the hope of becoming a two-division undisputed champion after having accomplished that feat at 168.

De La Hoya, who used to promoter Canelo, says he needs to return to the 168-lb division and defend against Gennadiy Golovkin in a trilogy match. Canelo will win that fight against Golovkin and be back on top of the world, De La Hoya predicts.

De La Hoya doubts Canelo will fight Bivol in a rematch in his next fight. What De La Hoya suggests is for Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) to defend his WBA 175-lb against his fighter Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, who is headlining tonight against Dominic Boesel (32-2, 12 KOs) in a World Boxing Association title eliminator at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California.

“The fact that the promoter of this event pushed Bivol on Canelo, it was the dumbest move in boxing history,” said De La Hoya to USA Today. “It’s not knowing boxing.

“It was the stupidest move. Whoever allowed Canelo to fight Bivol, I would’ve never allowed Canelo to fight Bivol,” De La Hoya said.

It’s unclear what type of fights De La Hoya would have Canelo fight if he were still his promoter. The Mexican star had received criticism from fans for fighting Golovkin after turning 35 rather than when he was younger.

Also, fans have given Canelo heat for not fighting David Benavidez and Demetrius Andrade, two fighters fighting in the same weight class as him. Would De La Hoya have been against the idea of letting Canelo fight them as well?

“Look exactly at what happened. Canelo’s on the top of the world,” said De La Hoya. “He’s the king. Why fight a guy that if Canelo fights ten times, he loses ten times? And he has nothing to gain. Nothing to win. Nobody knew Bivol.”

De La Hoya isn’t exactly giving Canelo a decisive vote of confidence about his chances of winning a rematch with Bivol.

Of course, many believe Canelo won’t trigger his rematch clause to fight Bivol again. Instead, he will follow the path that De Hoya recommends for the Mexican star to return to the the168-lb division to face the 40-year-old Golovkin.

“I didn’t get an offer for a rematch,” said  Dmitry Bivol this week for a second Canelo fight. “In the rematch, I can see things and have them work more in my favor. I can’t say if I’ll knock him out. ”

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