Are You Smarter Than A Boxing Promoter? Oscar De La Hoya Puts The Fishnets Over Our Eyes Once Again!

By Anthony “Zute” George

Saturday night’s PPV bonanza between Canelo Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez, JR. proved one thing. There is a sucker born every minute. Indeed, I include myself in that group, as I plucked down sixty bucks to watch a terrible fight. Considering the undercard was ho hum central, it ranks up there as the worst money I ever spent. I am probably even more of a sucker than most because I never felt this was a competitive boxing match. I always knew Canelo was worlds better than JR. I knew that JR. never takes training seriously, so, even if he made weight, it did not mean he was training properly for this fight. So, why did I buy it you ask? The answer is twofold.

First, what if I was wrong? A lot of boxing pundits whom I respect, and probably know more about the sport than me, were giving JR. more than a decent shot to win. Even though I felt they were way off, I have never been so full of myself that I think I know it all. In this case I probably should have felt that way. Second, Golden Boy did such a great job selling this fight, I felt I that I needed to be a part of it. Proving the man who once wore fish net stockings, is a lot smarter than me and everyone else who thought this was a must see fight.

I hold no grudges Oscar. I praise you. It is your job to bleed as much money as you can from boxing fans any way you can. It is the nature of the beast for you to protect your cash cow as long as you can. Mr. De La Hoya you have executed both tasks with impeccable savvy. It is not your job to care if the fans got jobbed; it would be nice for you to consider the fans, as the great J. Russell Peltz always has, but it is not your job to care, just to collect. And collect you do every time Canelo fights.

Saturday night was the kind of con job where everyone in on it came out busting at the seams with profit. Think of all the scarol that came in on JR. when he made weight; the sport books in Vegas were glad to take your money. Talk about suckers. They not only paid to see this garbage, they gambled their money away as well. Double Whammy! I apologize if I sound crass, or even arrogant; however, it is one thing to pay to see the fight, to actually bet big money that JR. was going to win? I will leave it at that.

It is not all doom and gloom boxing fans. The next time around, while Oscar stands to make another king’s ransom from his cash cow, Canelo is protected in no way. Canelo Vs “GGG” is a fight Canelo can definitely lose. It is also the biggest middleweight fight since Hopkins Vs Trinidad. Perhaps we can perceive Canelo Vs “GGG” as retribution, although the PPV price stands to be much higher than 60 bucks. Just speculation on my part.

Many boxing fans are seething over Saturday’s con job. And when I say con job I am in no way suggesting there was any foul play involved in the fight, it was just a gross mismatch sold to us as a fight for the ages. My message to all of the sore fans is this is the business of boxing. A side of the sport that has never been as glamourous and pure as the fighters and the fights. A side of the sport that once denied black fighters championship fights.

A side of the sport that did not allow Joe Louis to defend his title against black fighters for a long time. A side of the sport that the mob once had a fierce strangle hold on, so much so that a great talent like Jake LaMotta had to take a dive to secure a title shot. A side of the sport that leaves many of its great warriors broke; a dynamic that goes on until this day. Oscar De La Hoya outsmarting us all is miniscule compared to some of the atrocities we have seen in the name of the boxing business. Sometimes we are going to get fooled into buying stinkers. It is far from ideal, but it is not going to go away.

It you are not willing to accept that, good news, you have the power to not buy the next fight.

We all know you will though!

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