Oscar De La Hoya and Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza have been engaged in a very public back and forth lately and Oscar just took the next jab, no pun intended.
De La Hoya took his #1 fighter, Saul Canelo Alvarez, to HBO in a mutli-fight deal that’ll most likely end the boxing “Cold War.”
This didn’t sit well with Espinoza and Showtime. In an interview with SI Espinoza said that De La Hoya had agreed to a deal with Showtime for Alvarez and reneged on that deal today.
Showtime’s @StephenEspinoza tells SI that @OscarDeLaHoya made a verbal agreement for a multi-fight deal with @SHOsports and reneged on it.
— Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixSI) September 23, 2014
Per Espinoza, Showtime accepted a multi fight proposal. Even agreed to an extra $10 million later. Only learned of HBO deal on social media. — Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixSI) September 23, 2014
Espinoza: “The disappointing aspect is the shameful matter which @OscarDeLaHoya handled the whole thing. He reneged on multiple promises.”
— Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixSI) September 23, 2014
Espinoza said he initially “outright rejected Josh Clottey. We didn’t feel he was anywhere near credible.” Accepted only after HBO did.” — Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixSI) September 23, 2014
Oscar immediately spoke to ESPN about Espinoza’s accusations:
Oscar says he hopes this Canelo deal doesn’t ruin his relationship with Showtime, says he did not renege on a deal as Espinoza says he did.
— Dan Rafael (@danrafaelespn) September 23, 2014
The writing on the wall is becoming clearer by the day. Now that Richard Schaefer is done with Golden Boy it seems as though Showtime’s relationship is done as well. Showtime still has ties to the younger GDP stars, mainly because of their association with Al Haymon.
The signs point toward Oscar taking as many of his fighters as he can to HBO and the Haymon fighters signing with Mayweather Promotions. I’ll be surprised if it takes more than 3 months before Schaefer is the President of Mayweather Promotions and they sign these young boxers to fight on Showtime.
The old GDP is as gone as fast as it became relevant. Oscar has chose Bob Arum and HBO Boxing. Now it’s Showtime’s turn to pair with Mayweather and create a follow up to boxing’s “Cold War.”