Though Oscar De La Hoya's Twitter page pretty much daily reminds us of why Oscar De La Hoya shouldn't operate a Twitter page, I found this particular exchange so amazing, so mind-blowing, that I can't help but share it.
The topic of a Canelo Alvarez vs Julio Cesar Chavez Jr fight came up once again, and Oscar said he'd allow it at a 156-pound catchweight. Fine, catchweights are a reality for money fights, always have been, especially so today.
But then Oscar, as he often does, made a mess of his own words. I present to you this incredible exchange:
Kevin Iole (Yahoo! Sports): "When I asked you if there were any demands, you said no. Now you're saying 156?"
Oscar De La Hoya: "it's not a demand.it is what it is or else no fight"
Oscar went on to say, "A demand would be 154 for canelos tittle."
Indeed it would. But not the other one. Oh, no. Not that one. That just "is what it is." So, you know, it's not a demand. Just "is what it is," and if it's not agreed to, then no fight.
Oscar later wondered, "What ever happened to weight classes?"
This was followed by the "Golden Boy" ducking questions about why he's promoted so many catchweight fights in the past. Notably, Canelo Alvarez won his 154-pound title in a 150-pound fight against Matthew Hatton (not that Alvarez made weight or anything), and Floyd Mayweather Jr vs Juan Manuel Marquez in 2009 had a 144-pound catchweight (not that Mayweather made weight or anything). The second-to-last fight of Oscar's own career, against Steve Forbes, was fought at a 150-pound catchweight.
I'm not doing this to particularly crap on Oscar. All one needs to do is follow his Twitter page to get a load of some of the bunk he lays down there, and you can judge for yourself or whatever. But this idea he's trying to push that he is the white hat in the land of evil just has no real basis. He's saying it because he figures enough people will believe it and he can be the hero, and Bob Arum the devil himself. I'm also not defending Arum.
Think of this more as a PSA. All I'm saying is be careful of appointing De La Hoya, or any promoter, the solution to boxing's ills. Everyone in the game today is promoting by the same standards, and no matter how many times they might say something like, "Gosh, we need to change boxing," nobody ever actually does anything, or lives up to the standards they preach when they have the chance to criticize a rival. Oscar rips Bob Arum constantly. Where do you think he learned the promoting game?
But at the end of the day, it is what it is. Right?