By Sean Jones: Eddie Hearn is still mad about Oscar De La Hoya criticizing his match-making of superstar Canelo Alvarez, putting him in with one of his British fighters John Ryder from his Matchroom stable rather than the fighters Oscar feels would build his legacy against, David Benavidez or Dmitry Bivol.
De La Hoya is officially sick of Hearn matching Canelo against “all these British fighters.” He wants a change-up with some actual quality for Canelo instead of continuing cherry-picking fodder opposition.
With the way Hearn is matching Canelo, he’s extending his career, keeping him at the top artificially by swerving the killers that might knock him off the top, sending him to the scrap heap, which some feel would be his fate if he were to tangle with ‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez and David Morrell.
Canelo not fighting the best
Hearn feels he’s done a bang-up job with the fighters he’s matched Canelo (58-2-2, 39 KOs) against lately, putting him in against Billy Joe Saunders, Avni Yildirim, Rocky Fielding, Gennadiy Golovkin, and Caleb Plant.
De La Hoya has got a point. Canelo’s legacy and popularity have been going downhill lately since he stopped fighting the best after his controversial win over Gennadiy Golovkin in 2018.
When Canelo finally did step it up last May, he was embarrassed by Dmitry Bivol.
If only De La Hoya were less than ecstatic about Canelo facing ‘The Gorilla’ Ryder (32-5, 18 KOs), it wouldn’t be as bad, but the boxing world sees this as another example of soft match-aking being done by Hearn.
Ryder is as basic as you can get, and he’s a dull opponent for Canelo. He’s beaten no one of note to view him as a credible opponent for Canelo, and you can’t count his recent victory over a shot 36-year-old Danny Jacobs because he fought him when he was old.
“Is that the same guy that said fighting Dmitry Bivol was a terrible mistake because the fight was too tough,” Eddie Hearn told iFL TV about Oscar De La Hoya criticizing the Canelo Alvarez vs. John Ryder fight on May 6th.
Hearn lists Canelo’s recent opposition
“Let’s just break it down. Canelo Alvarez’s last four fights, he’s been unifying against Billy Joe Saunders in front of 75,000 at Dallas Cowboys [Stadium in Arlington, Texas], fighting against another champion for the undisputed title in Caleb Plant in Las Vegas, Dmitry Bivol, moving up to light heavyweight, which everyone said, ‘Ridiculous, that fights too tough,’ and Gennadiy Golovkin. That’s his [Canelo] last four fights, okay?” said Hearn.
What Hearn fails to say is that Billy Joe Saunders was viewed as a paper champion in the eyes of many fans, and Golovkin was old & shot to pieces when Canelo recently fought him. As for Plant, he’s about to get destroyed by ‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez next Saturday.
“Now, he has a mandatory because he owns all these belts. A guy [John Ryder] that is #1 in the world with the WBO, coming off wins against [Danny] Jacobs and Zach Parker.
“Oscar De La Hoya, you can’t have a sensible conversation with him. You can’t have a sensible conversation with him at all, but you certainly can’t have one about Canelo Alvarez.
“He [De La Hoya] should really show some respect to Canelo Alvarez, who really kind of saved and changed his business in all honesty and worry about Gilberto Ramirez the other night. He can be 13 lbs over, and Jaime Munguia has the worst match-making of any career I’ve ever seen.
“So just focus on the present, not the past. Canelo Alvarez has gone; he’s left you. He’s not coming back. So dry your eyes, and let’s all just be friends.
“When it suits,” said Hearn when told that De La Hoya was friendly with him in Abu Dhabi. “You want to slag someone off on Twitter and then, ‘Hey, buddy.’ I don’t really get it but whatever.
“Canelo vs. John Ryder is NOT pay-per-view. It’s part of your DAZN subscription. In fact, that sounds like a mistake to me that I’m going to have to review because that sounds like too much value,” said Hearn.
I guess Hearn is talking about Canelo-Ryder NOT being on PPV on DAZN in the UK because in the U.S., it’s on pay-per-view, and the fans aren’t happy about it.
That fight being on PPV in the UK would make more sense because Ryder is, after all, British and someone the English fans would be more willing to pay to see than Americans.
