He may or may not become the next President of the United States, but already, Donald Trump has made a huge impact around the globe with his comments, his ideas and his personality. Trump, who has fans and supporters as well as critics, made a ton of headlines with his comments on what he thinks about the Muslim population as well as the Mexican people (no need to repeat any of what Trump said here; suffice to say he offended millions of people) and his comments even reached the boxing world.
Trump, who promoted some huge boxing events himself in the 1980s and ’90s, so got under Oscar De La Hoya’s skin with what he had to say about the Mexican people, that Oscar decided to “show him.” As quoted by The Independent, De La Hoya said Trump’s comments gave him the idea of matching a popular Muslin fighter with a superstar Mexican fighter, the result being the May 7 Canelo Alvarez-Amir Khan catch-weight blockbuster.
“It’s mind-boggling to know that he has those types of philosophies and thoughts,” De La Hoya told CNN when talking about Trump. “I was watching Donald Trump speaking his nonsense, and I said to myself: ‘Why don’t I put a Muslim fighter and a Mexican fighter in the same ring and create a mega event on Cinco de Mayo week, just to show Trump.’ I thank Trump for giving me the inspiration to come up with this mega event. We’re going to have millions of Muslims, millions of Mexicans, buying pay-per-view, and watching the fight live from Las Vegas.”
Will Trump, who once promoted the likes of George Foreman and Mike Tyson, be one of the people who buys the May 7 fight! Trump has also angered Bob Arum with his comments and his ideals, and though the aforementioned Tyson has gone on record as having some support for Trump, the Presidential candidate is not winning over any other boxing people.
Getting back to the fight that has divided opinion amongst fight fans, De La Hoya says Canelo-Khan could be even bigger than the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, which did massive business on pay-per-view. That remains to be seen, but for those fans who feel the upcoming fight is a mismatch, De La Hoya has an immediate response: “Remember my fight with Manny Pacquiao and what Manny did to me,” the promoter said.
Khan himself is hugely confident going into the fight, saying the 155-pound limit the fight will be fought at will suit him just fine. While Alvarez, the big favourite to win, says he is on another level to Khan. This fight cannot come around fast enough. Thanks, Donald!
