Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya says he was “ready” when angry-looking Canelo Alvarez approached him during today’s final conference for his fight against Jaime Munguia on Saturday.
(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Premier Boxing Champions)
It would have been horrible for the event to have Canelo come to blows with De La Hoya. Saturday’s event on Amazon Prime Video PPV and DAZN PPV doesn’t need the main event fighter attacking a promoter in his 50s.
Oscar unloaded on Canelo with some of the things he said during the press conference, especially the part where he mentioned his positive drug tests and how Golden Boy had built him. Canelo looked like he lost it when De La Hoya spoke about that.
De La Hoya: “I Was Ready”
“Everybody has their moment, everybody has their time. I feel that Jaime can take advantage of it,” said promoter Oscar De La Hoya today after the end of the final press conference for Saturday’s fight between Canelo Alvarez and Jaime Munguia.
Oscar feels that with Canelo angry at him, he won’t have his full concentration inside the ring on Saturday night, and that’ll help Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) pull off the upset. The way De La Hoya is talking, I don’t think he would see it as an upset—just the passing of the torch between an old fighter and a young one.
“I was ready,” said De La Hoya when asked what his thoughts were when Canelo approached him at the podium. “Because he can’t take the truth. Fighters like that can’t have me around because the attention is diverted off them and they hate that.
No Reconciliation
“I know how to get under his skin. I’m one to bury the hatchet, but the ship has sailed. If there’s one person in the world that I won’t bury the hatchet with, it’s probably him. You’re putting your foot on my neck while I’m down and you talk s***. Well, guess what? Enough is enough, and this is the perfect moment.”
It’s a given that there’s no chance of reconciliation between De La Hoya and Canelo. If they were both going to bury the hatchet, they would have done it by now.
“Did I get in his head? Absolutely. That’s not my plan, but my plan is to say the truth. That’s it. There were two failed drug tests for GGG, and then Jaime raising his hand and wanting to fight GGG,” said De La Hoya.
