By Sean Jones: Oscar De La Hoya says Canelo Alvarez is “regressing” by fighting “all these British fighters” as he’d done in the recent past, and he believes he’s hurting his legacy by not fighting the best.
De La Hoya isn’t sure who is the one that is responsible for Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) choosing to fight John Ryder (32-5, 18 KOs) next on May 6th in Guadalajara, Mexico, but he has a pretty good idea.
De La Hoya is likely hinting about Canelo’s British promoter Eddie Hearn as the one that picked Ryder, a Brit, as the Mexican star’s next opponent, considering he’d been talking about wanting this fight for many months.
Hearn has been chomping at the bit, talking 24/7 about wanting Canelo to fight Ryder for ages, and it’s bizarre why he’d like to make this terrible mismatch. Does Hearn have a tin-ear for what the fans want?
It doesn’t take a genius to know that U.S. fans will have no interest in seeing Canelo going backward with his career, fighting another hopelessly overmatched opponent like virtually all the fighters he fought from 2019 to 2021.
Canelo’s opposition from 2019 to 2021:
- Rocky Fielding
- Callum Smith
- Billy Joe Saunders
- Avni Yildirim
- Daniel Jacobs
- Sergey Kovalev
- Caleb Plant
Unfortunately, Canelo vs. Ryder doesn’t interest U.S. boxing fans, and it won’t help DAZN bring in new subscribers or stop the flood of current members from canceling due to the recent substantial price hikes in subscription rates.
It’s mind-boggling making the Canelo-Ryder fight right now with DAZN raising the subscription rates. It’s unclear whether Hearn thought this thing through or had no choice if this was something that Canelo’s trainer/manager Eddy Reynoso came up with all on his own.
Someone should have sat Reynoso down and said, ‘Eddy, this isn’t a good time for Canelo to take another gimme like Ryder. He needs to fight someone good to keep the DAZN subscribers from continuing to cancel.’
If Canelo & Hearn wanted to be a good team players for DAZN, they’d have picked one of these quality fighters instead of Ryder:
- David Benavidez
- Dmitry Bivol
- David Morrell
- Jermell Charlo
- Artur Beterbiev
“I think it’s great that Canelo Alvarez is going back to his roots and is going back to his hometown. I think it’s special. I think it’s a great thing,” said Oscar De La Hoya to Fight Hub TV when asked about his view of Canelo fighting John Ryder next on May 6th in Guadalajara.
“We were, Golden Boy, the last promoters to promote him in his hometown 12 years ago. So it makes me happy that he’s going back and doing it for his people,” De La Hoya continued.
“He’s doing it for the Mexicans in Guadalajara, so it makes me happy that he’s doing that, but in terms of opposition, I’m not sure which direction he wants to go. It seems like he’s regressing inside the ring.
“He’s regressing in terms of picking opponents. He’s fighting all these British fighters, and it does nothing for his legacy. So, I don’t know whose fault that is. I don’t want to mention anything.
“I think Canelo should analyze carefully, who he wants to fight next, whether it’s Bivol, whether it’s Munguia, but he has to step up and fight the tough opposition. The tough guys that are out there that can give him a fight. It’s NOT the John Ryders of this world.
“Sure, those are the type of fights that build your legacy. The type of fights where people have to guess who is going to win, where people have to think about it really hard who,” said De La Hoya when asked if Canelo should fight Davd Benavidez next.
“When you have a pick ’em fight, it brings boxing back to the glory days. Yeah, that’s what it’s all about,” said De La Hoya.
