By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya says he’s interested in putting together a single elimination junior middleweight tournament with eight fighters that would take place over several months, according to RingTV. De La Hoya sees this a good vehicle for making stars out of a handful of junior middleweights. I’m not sure that I agree with him, but he’ll do what he wants to do.

De La Hoya said to RingTV “Why not do an eight-man tournament on a shorter period of time. Why not have three fights or even four fights in one night and make it a single elimination, and this tournament can last just a few months…If you fight in a great fight, then you’re going to come out of the tournament a star.”

I think it won’t work like the Super Six tournament because the fighters will be eliminate too quickly and you won’t see them again after they’re beaten. Two fighters will get all the attention in a tournament like this and those are the ones that end up in the finals. It’s not a good deal for a lot of the fighters that are eliminate in the first or second bouts of the tourney. There’s also the issue of who would take part in the tournament. The tournament will be pretty much worthless if the top junior middleweights – Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Miguel Cotto – refuse to take part in the tourney, and I doubt they will. Why would they? They don’t need the tournament to become stars, because they’re already there. The same goes for Saul Alvarez. Even if Golden Boy twisted his arm, I can’t see hi agreeing to fight in a tournament, not with the kinds of opponents he’s faced during his career. In a tournament, Alvarez wouldn’t be able to fight guys like Matthew Hatton, Shane Mosley and Kermit Cintron, so I see him saying no to it.

The tournament would likely end up being all Golden Boy Promotions fighters, which would defeat the purpose of the tourney. Do you really think that Bob Arum of Top Rank would let his fighters take part in a tournament like this? It’s not going to happen.

At best, here’s my guess as to who would possible take part in the tourney:

Austin Trout
Delvin Rodriguez
James Kirkland
Erislandy Lara
Cornelius Bundrage
Sergiy Dzinziruk
Carlos Molina
Carlos Quintana

It wouldn’t make a star out of anyone if the fights are ones matching non-stars against each other, and the elimination aspect removes the chances of a loser in the first bracket redeeming himself in his next fight and picking up new fans. It’s a rotten deal with the elimination aspect.