Oscar De la Hoya devoted this week’s ‘Clap Back Thursday episode to slamming the “diva’ Canelo Alvarez for his decision to turn down a fight against Jake Paul in favor of signing a four-fight contract with Turki Al-Sheikh to fight on his Riyadh Season events. Oscar labeled Canelo as a “money-hungry fighter who doesn’t care about his fans and is only concerned about filling his bank account.
Ducking Benavidez
De La Hoya pointed out that Canelo reinforced the view of him being seen as a diva by choosing to fight William Scull on Cinco de Mayo in May rather than David Benavidez, who is coming off a huge victory over WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight champion David Morrell on February 1st in Las Vegas.
De la Hoya didn’t go into the second fight of Canelo’s four-fight contract, which will be against 38-year-old Terence Crawford in what a lot of fans view as a “money grab” and “novelty fight,” no better than if he were to face, YouTuber turned boxer, Jake Paul.
“The news came out last week that Canelo signed a contract to fight Jake Paul, but at the last minute, Canelo ditched the agreement to fight Turki Al-Sheikh,” said Oscar De La Hoya during this week’s Clap Back Thursday’s episode. “Jake Paul pointed out that Canelo has zero loyalty to anyone and doesn’t care about his Mexican fans. He couldn’t be more correct.
“I was a little b** hurt when you left Golden Boy in 2015, but now you’ve done the same thing to Eddie Hearn and Al Haymon, who you said is the best promoter ever just months ago. You don’t give a f*** about being loyal to anyone. You’re simply in this for the money. You’re certainly not in it for the fans or helping the Mexican people.
“You’ve proved that you don’t give a f*** about any of them. You’ve never done a damn thing to help the Mexican community and you’ll go out of the way not to give them the fights they want to see. Instead of fighting David Benavidez on Cinco de Mayo weekend, which is clearly the move to make because David is coming off a great win over Morrell.”
It would have been better if Canelo had finally pulled the trigger on the Benavidez fight rather than choosing to fight William Scull (23-0, 9 KOs), who is coming off a controversial win over Vladimir Shishkin last October in a match that a lot of fans felt should have gone the other way.
“Soft” Boxing Era
“You’re fighting William Scull? Really? What the f****. You really said you don’t want to fight David Benavidez because ‘I don’t want to give him a payday because doesn’t deserve it and he’s talking s*** about me.’ What the f***? You’re supposed to create bad blood and excitement for the fans to enjoy. But you won’t fight a guy because he’s being mean to you?” said De La Hoya.
Canelo’s repeated excuses for refusing to fight Benavidez are just that: excuses. Most fans understand that Canelo is afraid of losing to Benavdiez, so he’ll never fight him for fear of being beaten.
“Get the f*** out of here, Canelo. You singlehandedly created the diva era of boxing,” said De La Hoya. “Other fighters look up to you, and it’s your fault that this is the softest, money-hungry of all time in boxing. Canelo, if you’re a true star in your prime, everyone you fight should become a star as well.
“Bum-laga” Example
“With me and Pacquiao, he became ‘Pacman,’ and me with Mayweather, he became ‘Money’ Mayweather. That brings me to your last opponent, Edgar Berlanga, who went the distance with you but lost every round. Then he went on a bizarre victory tour, celebrating his loss. ‘Bum-laga,’ as he’s been named by the fans, is fighting on March 15th against, I don’t know, in Orlando on the undercard. No one cares if ‘Bum-laga’ fights again.
“This fiasco further proves my point that Canelo is responsible for creating an era of pussies. I’ve always said Chavez is the greatest Mexican fighter in the world. He led the warrior era in the fighting game. Chavez, Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard, myself, warriors. We wanted the best fights and never ducked anyone.
“Then came Floyd with the boxing, the agility, and the running, But now we have the diva era created by Canelo, the most pathetic era of boxing today,” said De La Hoya.
