Eddie Alvarez in “serious talks” with Oscar De La Hoya for July 3rd fight

By Boxing News - 04/14/2021 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: Former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez has revealed that he’s in “serious talks” to fight Oscar De La Hoya in his comeback fight in a boxing event this summer on July 3rd on Triller pay-per-view.

Alvarez told ESPN that he’s in discussions to be the opponent for the 48-year-old former six-division world champion De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs) on July 3rd.

Although De La Hoya had previously talked of wanting to take on one of the top boxers in the sport, it’s not happening.

Shortly after De La Hoya announced Snoop Dog of Triller that he would be retiring to the ring to fight on July 3rd, it was revealed that he would be fighting an MMA fighter in a boxing event rather than a boxer.

Eddie Alvarez won’t move the needle for boxing fans

Choosing Eddie Alvarez will delight some of the UFC fans, who are familiar with him, but it won’t do much for boxing fans who have never heard of him. Alvarez is not a household name with boxing fans.

By choosing Alvarez, De La Hoya would be trying to lure the MMA viewers into ordering his July 3rd fight on Triller pay-per-view.

Alvarez’s stand-up fighting skills leave a lot to be desired, which you can argue is why he’s being picked by De La Hoya. Despite being 10 years younger than De La Hoya at 37, Alvarez is little threat to beating him in a boxing event.

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Alvarez has been knocked out with punches in four out of the last seven fights in MMA. He’s not a good fighter in the stand-up, and that’s why it’s a poor choice for De La Hoya to pick him.

Fans were hoping that De La Hoya would pick the more accomplished and recognizable Conor McGregor or Khabib Nurmagomedov as his opponent for July 3rd. But it looks Oscar wants an EASY mark, someone won’t give him any trouble.

De La Hoya taking a SAFE fight

Considering how bad an emaciated De La Hoya looked in his last fight 13 years ago against Manny Pacquiao in 2008, it’s not a shock that he’s going in the direction of Eddie Alvarez for his opponent.

Four years ago, Alvarez received a lot of attention when he took on the highly popular McGregor at UFC 205. It ended badly for Alvarez in getting stopped in the second round by McGregor.

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De La Hoya’s fight on July 3 will be the first of his multi-fight deal with Triller. In other words, this could be the start of many exhibition matches for the original ‘Golden Boy’ De La Hoya.

It’ll be interesting to see what type of opponents Oscar gets in his other exhibition matches for Triller. Fans would like to see De La Hoya fight someone credible like McGregor or some of the older boxers like Juan Manuel Marquez.