Ni Gilbert Espeña
PARA kay Golden Boy Promotions big boss Oscar De La Hoya, isang malaking circus ang sagupaan nina Floyd Mayweather Jr. at UFC superstar Conor McGregor sa Agosto 26 sa Las Vegas, Nevada kaya hiniling niya sa mga apisyonado ng boksing na iboykot ang naturang sagupaan.
Magbabalik sa pagreretiro sa boksing ang 40-anyos na si Mayweather na tatangkaing wasakin ang record ni dating undisputed heavyweight champion of the world Rocky Marciano sa paglaban kay McGregor na walang kahit isang laban sa professional boxing.
May open letter si De La Hoya sa boxing fans sa paniniwalang ang naturang sagupaan ay lilikha ng malaking pinsala sa boksing.
“It’s a circus show. The Ringling Brothers are coming to town. That’s the bottom line. Take a look at McGregor’s boxing record, it’s 0-0-0. That’s who Mayweather is,” sabi ni De La Hoya sa Star Telegram. “Obviously, the person who knows the fight game and anything about boxing or combat sports knows that Mayweather will never get the credit he thinks he deserves.”
Masama rin ang loob ni De La Hoya dahil ang Mayweather-McGregor ay makakaribal ng pay-per-view blockbuster na paghamon ni Mexican Saul “Canelo” Alvarez laban kay IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC middleweight king Gennady “GGG” Golovkin.
“That story is true,” dagdag ni De La Hoya. “It was important to Canelo to lock in that Sept. 16 date. That’s an important date to boxing, and Canelo did something that no other fighter since me has done — that’s move Mayweather out of that Sept. 16 date. Every (proposal) was sweet, and Jerry Jones is as good as they come when it comes landing the big event, but Canelo was adamant about securing that date.”