It’s sad when two great fighters, two great Mexican fighters (one being Mexican-American) fall out, especially when it’s over money. But this is what has happened with Oscar De La Hoya and Juan Manuel Marquez. De La Hoya, on one of his now routine ‘clap back’ videos, really laid into Marquez, this in response to “Dinamita” having accused the Golden Boy head of stealing from him in his big fight with Manny Pacquiao, this the fourth and final fight between the two greats.
Marquez, speaking on the Un Round Mas podcast a while back, said De La Hoya, and Golden Boy, “stole a percentage” from him in the Pacquiao fight, this because Marquez was not renewing his contract with Golden Boy.
“He says, ‘I see you’re not renewing. We want 20 percent of your earnings from the Pacquiao fight.’ They accused me of stealing from them. They called me a thief,” Marquez said. “I told Oscar, sure, 20 percent. No problem. In my mind, I thought, yeah [right], I’ll give it after you stole from me for five years?…. I don’t care if he hears this. Let him know. He tried to charge me a percentage for the Pacquiao fight.”
De La Hoya did not take kindly to Marquez’s words, as he made clear when uploading his latest ‘Clap Back’ video.
“Professor De La Hoya here to educate bitter, broke, retired fighters who think it’s okay to slander my company’s name without any repercussions,” De La Hoya began. “Over the past few months, it has become popular for retired fighters to clout-chase by alleging that I somehow screwed them over decades ago when they fought for Golden Boy.
“Juan Manuel Marquez went on a podcast where he bitched and cried that I took 20 percent of his pay-per-view purse for the Pacquiao fight in 2012. Juan, you moron, you negotiated that contract with your own promoter and lawyer and you signed it. You agreed to it all on paper. Plus, 20 percent of a pay-per-view purse is the standard amount for a promoter to be paid. You think I should work for free? And what makes this worse is that before you were a boxer you were an accountant but you couldn’t handle your own finances. Listen, dude, I’m sorry you’re broke, but how you spend you money is not my problem. I have always paid everyone exactly what they are contracted and entitled to…..I hate to see former fighters end up like this. But slandering me is only going to get you in trouble. So keep my name out of your f*****g mouth.”
Nasty indeed. It is hoped these two great ring warriors can patch things up and put this issue to rest. If not, De La Hoya may turn to suing Marquez. If Marquez really is “broke,” a court case could really ruin him. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. De La Hoya, though, seems to be really and truly angry at this point.
Marquez as we know, knocked Pacquiao out in stunning fashion in their fourth fight. Now, that sweet victory has a bitter element to it as far as Marquez is concerned. What a shame it has come to this.
