The September 14 fight between Floyd Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez figures to be the first fight with any realistic hope of beating the pay-per-view records set by Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya in 2007, and it's no secret that the two men have never gotten totally past their grudges and beefs with one another. The above preview clip from Saturday's "All Access" premiere shows that rivalry still exists.
Mayweather (44-0, 26 KO) has fought only Golden Boy fighters or free agents (Cotto) since beating De La Hoya, and has run through each of them. Ricky Hatton, Juan Manuel Marquez, Shane Mosley, Victor Ortiz, Miguel Cotto, and Robert Guerrero have all fallen against Mayweather, and each time it seems, Oscar has sold the opponent as someone who will beat Floyd, sort of giving the impression that he's looking for one of his fighters to avenge him, in a way.
In 2011, it seemed Ortiz was Oscar's personal favorite to finally do the deed. Canelo Alvarez, though, may be his greatest hope. If Alvarez can't beat Mayweather, then there's really no one on the Golden Boy roster that's going to stand much of a chance on paper.
Oscar has identified with Ortiz and Canelo, seeing some of himself in these fighters. They've been his substitutes, more or less. Ortiz essentially made a fool of himself against Floyd. We'll see what we get with Canelo.
You can see it in this clip. Oscar says "my fighter is going to kick your ass," not "Canelo is going to kick his ass." There's a personal involvement that comes from more than just being a fight promoter who obviously wants his guy to win. At the LA presser, as he did with Ortiz in 2011, Oscar sits beside Canelo, in the same spot that Leonard Ellerbe takes beside Mayweather. Richard Schaefer fills the promoter's role, standing behind everyone, remaining impartial to at least some degree. Oscar can't hide much when it comes to Mayweather. It may be the only time his true emotions really poke through.
All Access debuts Saturday night at 10:00 pm EDT on Showtime. BLH will have a live discussion thread for the show, which will precede the Mares-Gonzalez event on Showtime, starting at 10:30 pm EDT.