A lot of casual boxing fans ask what exactly is the COLD WAR?
There is a lot of background on this, but here is what it means in its simplest form.
Top Rank and Golden Boy won’t do business together, which makes it impossible for the best fights to be made. It is why you can’t get an Adrien Broner vs. Manny Pacquiao fight for example.
After Floyd Mayweather switched from HBO to Showtime, HBO made the decision to not show any Golden Boy fighters on their network. So, if a fighter like Gennady Golovkin who has an exclusive deal with HBO wanted to fight Canelo Alvarez it couldn’t happen.
Lastly, Al Haymon, Showtime and Golden Boy all work closely together, but since Haymon advises a lot of fighters, it keeps them off HBO.
A lot of this is because of the beef Bob Arum has had with Mayweather, Golden Boy and Oscar De La Hoya over the years. While Mayweather, Showtime and Golden Boy as a whole don’t seem to trust Arum, De La Hoya appears to be the one who wants to try to end the Cold War.
Here is what he had to say to the LA Times and thoughts from Arum.
One fight that De La Hoya says he’s interested in pursuing is a super-bout between Arum’s star fighter, Manny Pacquiao, and Golden Boy’s top star, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
“Anything’s possible,” De La Hoya said. “That’s one of the reasons I was extending the olive branch. The fans want to see these kinds of fights.”
“I’d be happy to talk to Oscar about any subject in boxing he wishes to talk to me about,” Arum said. “All this baloney about a cold war has never really applied to Oscar and myself. We can talk bout any subject in boxing rationally. … We might disagree on a particular point, but we can talk. I hope we’ll get together and have some significant meetings in the near future.”
“I was dealing with personal issues, but I’m back,” De La Hoya said. “Golden Boy is my baby. Boxing is my passion, boxing is my life. This is what I’ll be focusing on, growing the brand, making the fights people want to see.”
“If anyone with Golden Boy has any differences with Bob, it’s on them,” De La Hoya said. “I have nothing against Bob and I feel making fights with Bob is beneficial to the fans and the market.”
“Bob, what he did for my career was amazing and I appreciate it, am so grateful. I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t extend an olive branch, end the cold war and make fights together. I will be making calls in the near future and we’ll make an event together very soon.”
It is De La Hoya’s company, but while he was working on those personal issues, Richard Schaefer was running the day to day operations. The question begs does De La Hoya have the final say in all matters or does it have to be run through Schaefer as well?
We will find out soon enough.