Oscar De La Hoya took his anger towards Al Haymon to another level this week by slating his former partner’s deal with Amazon Prime.
Haymon signed a TV deal with Prime Video to broadcast Premier Boxing Champions events exclusively, the first of which was a success as far as buzz is concerned.
Pay Per View number rumors, as usual – unannounced despite certain people stating they have the gospel voice – were referenced by De La Hoya. However, the Sebastian Fundora vs. Tim Tszyu card would never set the world alight and would always be a small gauge of where PBC ultimately wanted to be.
More giant cards will determine whether Haymon and Amazon will be a success. But that didn’t stop De La Hoya from planting his verbal boot right into Haymon’s face.
The eleven-time world champion asked: “I’m curious to know how successful the first PBC and Prime boxing PPV Numbers did. Does anyone have an idea?
“I’m rooting for Amazon to succeed. But they got with a promoter that took Showtime, NBC, Fox, etc., out of the boxing business. [That’s a] Fact,” he added.
Fundora vs Tszyu was an exceptionally presented PPV that would never set the world alight. However, the knives came out against Haymon as the dust settled despite nobody complaining about the card.
The primary fight was a superb back-and-forth battle eventually won by Fundora, who many before the bout thought should never have gotten the opportunity. Fundora seized his chance, though, became the unified super welterweight champion and promised Tszyu a rematch. All in all, nobody had anything bad to say during the aftermath.
Once the PPV numbers were mentioned, things began to turn despite Haymon’s deal with Amazon having nothing to do with how many sales garnered early on. It’s a slow building process for both, with Haymon adjusting to life at Amazon and their bid to be relevant in the boxing business.
There will always be those detractors, though. Those who want Haymon to fail despite his apparent attempts compete with DAZN and ESPN in what will become healthy competition.
De La Hoya’s words can only breed the assumption that the Golden Boy Chairman is not one hundred percent engrossed with DAZN. That scenario can be the only outcome for wanting another promoter to fail.
It’s not the first time De La Hoya has had this desire towards another promoter. He felt the same way about Eddie Hearn when the Briton first joined the network. De La Hoya then ended up signing a deal with DAZN, leaving the rest as history, including the boxing legend’s criticism of the streaming service.
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