In-Fighting: Signs of division in Golden Boy slowly showing up

By Raj Parmar - 04/24/2014 - Comments

delahoya92By Raj Parmar: Back in 2007, then super welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya faced off against Floyd Mayweather in one of the richest fights in boxing history. The fight was promoted by Golden Boy Promotions (founded by De La Hoya in 2002) and a heated build up between Oscar and Mayweather ensued, so much that there is still high tension between the two to this day.

Both Oscar and Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer were greatly disappointed when Mayweather pulled out a split decision win, as Oscar and Richard were very close personally and professionally at this point.

Since the loss, Oscar has gotten into serious addictions with drinking, drugs and sex; and was eventually forced him to go in rehab. As Oscar battled his demons, Floyd went on to become a worldwide star and the highest paid athlete in sports. Despite the animosity between Oscar and Floyd, Golden Boy continued to promote Floyd with Schaefer doing most of the promotional work as Oscar tried to clean himself up.

Something strange happened during this time period, as Mayweather and Schaefer appeared to be getting really close while Richard and Oscar seemed to be getting distant. Floyd even suggested the promotional company should be named Richard Schafer Promotions and gave out gifts to Schaefer and his family during a press conference for his fight with Canelo Alvarez. Regarding Oscar, Schaefer would simply say he wishes him well on his recovery while acknowledging he does not speak to him very regularly.

A major sign that something is not totally right the company is the fact that Oscar has recently stated he is willing to work with promotional rival Bob Arum to make fights happen between fighters of both Golden Boy and Top Rank. Schaefer publicly stated after Oscar’s comment that he has no plans to ever work with Arum again, showing the two are not completely on the same page.

While everything not is fully known yet about the extent of division in Golden Boy, what is known is that Mayweather advisor and Schaefer friend Al Haymon is has gone on a signing spree in the last few weeks; signing top calibre fighters such as Adonis Stevenson, Chad Dawson, Luis Collazo, Lamont Peterson, Robert Guerrero and Amir Khan. If Mayweather, Schaefer and Haymon are under a certain style of thinking while Oscar is on a different philosophy on what boxing’s future should be, it seems that the boxing landscape could potentially get very messy after May3 if these powerhouses continue to disagree.



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