Almost immediately after Floyd Mayweather took care of Robert Guerrero on May 4, beating him in one sided fashion, people started calling for a “Super Fight” between Floyd and WBC Super Welterweight Champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez..
Many of us were skeptical of the fight happening given Mayweather’s history of not always giving us the fights that we’ve wanted when we wanted them. Floyd tends to move at the beat off his own drum and does what he feels is best for his career regardless of what anyone else thinks. This time he threw us a curve ball and caught most of us off guard when agreed to meet Saul Alvarez on Sept. 14.
Co-promoter of the event, Golden Boy Promotions owner Oscar De La Hoya explained how the fight was put together and was agreed upon by both parties, “This is the fight that was supposed to be made, the fight that was supposed to happen. First you have Floyd who at this stage of his career wants to fight the very best, which is very admirable and then ‘Canelo’ always wanted to fight the best and that’s Floyd Mayweather.” He went on to explain in further detail, “You have Richard Schaefer who deals with Floyd Mayweather because Floyd doesn’t deal with me for some reason, and I deal with ‘Canelo’ Alvarez who is my fighter, who is a Golden Boy fighter and this is the fight that was made, the best fight that could be made in boxing today.”
When asked about why an animosity between he and Floyd Mayweather exists Oscar had this to say, “Well probably because we fought in 2007. Most likely because there is a little animosity still there from our fight in 2007, so it’s understandable, it’s great but obviously I have my partner Richard Schaefer who is my CEO dealing with Floyd Mayweather.”
Because of that animosity, the two former adversaries haven’t been shy about taking verbal shots at each other throughout the promotional tour for this event. While taking offense at De La Hoya claiming that “Canelo” is the biggest star in boxing today Mayweather fired back, “You might as well call me the ‘Golden Boy’ because I done beat everyone on your whole crew last time I checked.” Oscar responded to that statement claiming, “Well first of all Floyd Mayweather couldn’t even be called the silver boy. Let’s put it that way. The ‘Golden Boy’ was earned by winning the gold medal, and I believe he won the bronze medal so that’s obviously the difference.” He went on to say, “‘Canelo’ Alvarez is a Golden Boy Fighter and we feel he is going to beat Mayweather, so this is the biggest fight that could be made and we are happy to be part of it.”
De La Hoya was also asked if a penalty would be imposed if Alvarez were to weigh in at over the agreed upon catch weight of 152 pounds. He paused for a bit and then answered, “Actually we can’t discuss that, but he is not going to have any problem making weight.”
