Oscar De La Hoya's open letter to fans to not support the UFC/WWE-fication of boxing

[Death By Samson]

That's because you're a peasant without a dime to your name.

Are you really that stoked to see your boy clowned and humiliated?

 

[Anthony7]

Oscar's just worried he's going to have to movie his Sept 17 Canelo/GGG date.

 

[Soul On Ice]

Sounds jealous

If Conor and Floyd want to put on a show and a lot of people want to pay to watch it then good for them

Can't knock the hustle

Exposed!!

 

[JayE]

The fight is a farce, but Oscar is incredibly disingenuous and always has been. This reminds me of his open letter to boxing trashing Mayweather after he retired criticizing him over his promotional practices and fight choices (this is the same man who dragged his feet for over a year with the Canelo/GGG negotiation). People will always pay for a spectacle that garners widespread attention, and even if Mayweather/McGregor has no legitimacy as a competitive boxing match, it would be a spectacle.

 

[Cowboy Cerroliveira]

If Oscar went back in time and saw Muhammad Ali in his prime talking all that shit, would he say the same thing. I'm not comparing McGregor to Ali, but Ali faced the same kind of criticism.

 

[tru3f4n]

He's just pissed off it's going to overshadow the GGG Canelo fight, the one he's been maneuvering for the last 2 years for his golden boy Canelo. If he had not been such a pussy and made the fight last year instead of advising Canelo to literally give his belt to GGG and run to the 154lb division then this wouldn't have been an issue.

Anyone who's a fan of boxing should be pissed the fact this stupid fucking fight might take place is a fucking joke. Floyd breaking the record that him and Rocky Marciano shares with a win over glorified club fighter is a disgrace to boxing. Conor will go in there get embarrassed collect his money and retire this will probably hurt MMA alot more then boxing but Floyd will still have that 50-0 record.

 

[Bjjpitbull8]

Came here to say:

Would

 

[Jermei]

I didnt notice you were gone, actually...

 

[Ja Jas]

Anyone who's a fan of boxing should be pissed the fact this stupid fucking fight might take place is a fucking joke. Floyd breaking the record that him and Rocky Marciano shares with a win over glorified club fighter is a disgrace to boxing. Conor will go in there get embarrassed collect his money and retire this will probably hurt MMA alot more then boxing but Floyd will still have that 50-0 record.

I'm of the same opinion as Tyson Fury, that 49-0 record is only for heavyweights.

 

[chiefwiggum]

I agree with Oscar but I still want to see it.
This will not hurt boxing at all win lose or draw. Unless Connor takes an excessive beating and dies in the ring.
Trash talking has always been apart of boxing. Some guys are just louder and get more attention for it.


And as far as Ric flair, I wish there was an MMA guy that was exactly like Ric flair. That would be awesome!

 

[tru3f4n]

If Oscar went back in time and saw Muhammad Ali in his prime talking all that shit, would he say the same thing. I'm not comparing McGregor to Ali, but Ali faced the same kind of criticism.

Ali didn't try and go wrestle Istvan Kozma or Aleksandr Medved Conor is trying to go fight the top Boxer of the last what 10 - 15 years not the same.

 

[tru3f4n]

I'm of the same opinion as Tyson Fury, that 49-0 record is only for heavyweights.

Fury's an idiot

 

[Sjb1888]

This is a pathetic and transparent move from De la Hoya.

Someone should point him in the direction of this little doozy...

 

[KoreanZawmbie]

I didn;t need to read Oscars letter to already know I aint paying shit for that PPV card. Give me GGG/Canelo instead!

 

[HomerThompson]

To my fellow #boxing fans:

I write in the hopes that together we can protect the sport of boxing.

With each passing day, it looks more and more likely that the circus known as Floyd Mayweather Vs. Conor McGregor will be coming to town in the near future.

As undercard fights start to take form, athletic commissions give their blessings in exchange for millions of dollars and the fighters start counting even more cash, one group will eventually be left to make sure this farce doesn’t occur.

We, the fans, who are the lifeblood of our sport.

Boxing is starting to dig out of the hole that Floyd and Manny Pacquiao shoveled by waiting seven years to put on a fight that ended up being as dull as it was anti-climactic.

2017 has started off as a banner year for boxing. Joshua vs. Klitschko; Thurman vs. Garcia; Golovkin vs. Jacobs; Canelo vs. Chavez. All four of these fights – and many more -- have brought the fight game back and reinvigorated interest from the ever-elusive casual fan.

But if you thought Mayweather/Pacquiao was a black eye for our sport – a matchup between two of the best pound-for-pound fighters that simply didn’t deliver -- just wait until the best boxer of a generation dismantles someone who has never boxed competitively at any level – amateur or professional.

Our sport might not ever recover.

I fully understand the initial attraction from any fan of combat sports. McGregor is almost certainly the best pound-for-pound MMA fighter. Floyd is Floyd — the most dominant boxer of his time.

But success in one sport does not guarantee success in another. Far from it. And let’s be clear, these are two different sports -- from the size of the gloves fighters wear, to the size and shape of the ring, to the fact the one sport allows combatants to use their legs to strike.

Think about it, beyond Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders, what other athlete has successfully competed in two sports in the modern age? And Jackson and Sanders both played both baseball and football throughout their high school and college careers before going professional.

Furthermore, it’s not like McGregor would be fighting a good fighter, let alone a mediocre one. He would be fighting the best. To use a bit of an extreme analogy, I happen to be a pretty good golfer. Could I potentially hold my own on one of the second-tier tours? Maybe. But would I be able to compete with Rory McIlroy, Jordan Speith or Sergio Garcia? Of course not. Nor would I think to try.

Now, I know critics will say that I’m only writing this letter because my company is promoting what will be the culmination of an outstanding boxing year when Canelo Alvarez takes on Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in September, and I don’t want anything to distract attention away from that fight.

But my interest is in the health of boxing as a whole. It always has been. And if Floyd were to come out of retirement to take on someone like Keith “One–time” Thurman, Errol Spence or some other top welterweight, not only would I applaud the fight, I’d be the first one on line for a ticket.

That kind of fight is what the fans – and I am a fan first -- deserve.

Which brings me back to the circus.

Floyd’s and Conor’s motivation is clear. It’s money. In fact, they don’t even pretend it’s not. But it’s also a lack of consequences for when the fight ends up being the disaster that is predicted. After this fight, neither of them will need us anymore. Floyd will go back to retirement -- presumably for good this time with another nine-figure paycheck -- and Conor will go back to the UFC.

It’s a win-win for them. It’s a lose-lose for us. We’ll be $100 lighter and we will have squandered another opportunity to bring boxing back to its rightful place as the sport of kings.

At this point, only we can shut the circus down by making it clear that we won’t pay to see a joke of a fight and telling our casual-fan friends that they shouldn’t either.

Sincerely,

Oscar


--------

Let's face it. The McGregor era of UFC is the WWE era of MMA. It's all about trash talk, fight matches based on storylines than merit, and PPV sells. The most recent UFC press conference kicking off the summer fights was so cringeworthy bad. Guys throwing punches, guys with double digit losses talking shit and calling themselves killers, guys just saying shit for crowd reaction. Everybody wants to be Conor McGregor, but it's WWE that has clearly influenced McGregor with his Ric Flair-like antics, cutting promos, and walking like Vince McMahon. Now this VIRUS is attempting to spill into boxing. I agree with the golden boy here. Do not support this bull shit.

 

[Sjb1888]

Beat me to it.

 

[Cowboy Cerroliveira]

Ali didn't try and go wrestle Istvan Kozma or Aleksandr Medved Conor is trying to go fight the top Boxer of the last what 10 - 15 years not the same.

He was complaining about the WWE-ification of boxing, not the cross-over of an MMA guy into boxing. His first example was the crazy buildup of Mayweather vs Pacquiao which ultimately became a letdown and he sees the Mayweather-McGregor buildup in the same vein.

 

[Ja Jas]

Fury's an idiot

Fury says some stupid things and I don't agree with a lot of his world views, but he is a student of boxing and I respect his opinion on the sport.

 

[mjfan23]

The Canelo Chavez fight he referred to was a farce and much worse then manny vs Floyd

 

[MMA-woooooh!!!!]

i partially agree. i won't be spending money on it but i will watch via live stream, bar or wait to download the event later.
i do think he is just saying all that in case they book the fight at the same time as canelo v ggg though.
also canelo v chavez shouldn't be included among the other fights he mentioned. chavez didn't do anything for most of the fight from what i remember.