Oscar De La Hoya is not expecting Alvarez-Khan bout to trigger more business with Al Haymon
Oscar De La Hoya says there is a strong possibility that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will fight at AT&T Stadium in Arilington, Texas, this year.
Oscar De La Hoya said despite his ability to make the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez bout against Amir Khan on Tuesday, he’s not expecting similar smooth dealings with others in powerful boxing manager Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions stable.
“I had nothing to do with Al Haymon for this fight,” De La Hoya told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday in a telephone conversation. “I made this fight with Amir Khan’s father, Shah, and [his attorney]. I really don’t know the logistics of their contract, but I dealt with Shah and [the Khan attorney]. ... I have no idea [of Haymon’s involvement].”
Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 knockouts) will defend his World Boxing Council middleweight belt for the first time when he meets England’s former light-welterweight world champion Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) in the 155-pound catch-weight bout that is expected to be staged at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on May 7, televised by HBO pay-per-view.
A spokesman for Premier Boxing Champions and Haymon told The Times on Tuesday that Haymon advised Khan throughout his talks to fight Alvarez, sessions that dragged on past midnight into Tuesday morning.
The culmination of the deal, which comes in light of De La Hoya’s $300-million federal lawsuit against Haymon on claims he is attempting to monopolize the sport and is violating the federal Ali Act that forbids a manager from functioning jointly as a promoter, should alter the perception of Haymon’s aim, another official said.
“If the point is that Al stops these guys from making fights with those guys, what do you think [this says]?” said a PBC official unauthorized to comment publicly about the lawsuit. “This [PBC] model has been set up -- this is why it was constructed -- to not deprive fighters of the chance to make the most money for themselves.”
Yet, when asked if Alvarez-Khan would cause him to reconsider his lawsuit against Haymon, De La Hoya said, “No, not at all.”
Although a PBC official insisted to The Times that Khan’s management agreement with Haymon is like the other 200 PBC fighter deals with Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s manager, De La Hoya said repeated unions between his Golden Boy Promotions and PBC fighters is a long shot.
“No, I don’t think so,” De La Hoya said. “I believe this was a fight that was made with Shah and his lawyer, and I made the fight with them. I’m not looking beyond this fight with PBC.”
Haymon and De La Hoya struck a settlement last January that saw the defection of several top Golden Boy fighters to PBC, including heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, welterweight champions Danny Garcia and Keith Thurman and featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz.
“Every fighter deserves to be involved in big fights and I’ve always stated I’m a promoter who’s willing to work with anybody to make good fights happen and please the fans,” De La Hoya said. “I’m always hopeful that every promoter in the business can work together to make the best fights happen.”
Alvarez-Khan happened, De La Hoya said, because “Khan was always looking for a big, major fight and it was only natural he’d fight Canelo because Mayweather and [Manny] Pacquiao didn’t want to fight him.”
Does the weight disparity signal a mismatch, especially with the vulnerability of Khan’s suspect chin? “Well, there was one little Filipino fighter who moved up two weight classes to fight the ‘Golden Boy’ and we know what happened there,” De La Hoya said of his final fight, a defeat to Pacquiao. “So I don’t think weight’s an issue here because of Amir Khan’s speed.”
Alvarez triggered much dismay among fight fans when rumors were floated he was considering Gabriel Rosado or Willie Monroe as possible opponents after pausing to fight unbeaten, two-belt middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin.
“Those names were just speculation, but I always had a plan -- a vision -- and this fight with Khan and Canelo, with Khan moving up a weight class, is a dangerous fight,” De La Hoya said. “Canelo will have to use a whole new style and adapt to the speed. When has Amir Khan ever been in a boring fight? This is going to be an entertaining, high-paced, action-packed fight.”
Khan accepts a big financial score instead of pursuing a welterweight title shot against Garcia and countryman Kell Brook.
Alvarez, said De La Hoya, has told him he wants to fight three times this year, and added that Golovkin is “absolutely ... on the radar.”
De La Hoya said he’ll seek to place WBC super-featherweight champion Francisco Vargas or unbeaten heavyweight Luis Ortiz on the Alvarez-Khan undercard. The promoter said he’ll meet with MGM Resorts executive Richard Sturm on Tuesday to try and finalize the T-Mobile Arena site deal.
“We’ve always thought of bringing the first sporting event to that brand-new arena and what better event to have in the state-of-the-art stadium? This is the perfect event. Canelo Alvarez. Cinco de Mayo weekend. This is going to be huge,” De La Hoya said.
Twitter: @latimespugmire
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