Now that Oscar De La Hoya and his company Golden Boy Promotions has a reported five-fight deal with Floyd Mayweather, you can’t expect to hear the truth from Oscar about Floyd. As a promoter, Oscar has to sell his product and Floyd is a very important asset to his company at this time, with Bernard Hopkins and Shane Mosley in the home stretch of their Hall of Fame careers.
When you hear Oscar say things like he saw more talent come out of Floyd than Top Rank star Manny Pacquiao, you digest it with chuckle. After all, who could forget that Floyd won a split decision over Oscar, while Pacquiao brutalized Oscar over nine rounds in a one-sided manhandling.
But let’s go back in time. A couple of years ago, before Oscar met Floyd in the ring, Oscar made some hard-hitting observations about Mayweather on a media conference call:
“He has no problem talking. That’s his problem. What comes out of his mouth is just garbage.”
“There’s really no respect whatsoever anymore. Everything that comes out of his mouth motivates me. Yeah, there’s no respect whatsoever.”
“He didn’t choose to be the villain, that’s just the way he is.”
“Ever since I first met the guy on the media tour he’s been talking all this trash, it’s just too over the top. I’m not a person to hate anyone but he lost the respect I had for him.”
“I remember we, Sugar Ray Leonard and Floyd being on a private plane coming back from the Hall of Fame. I remember we were telling him, You are the future of boxing. You could be so marketable. He’s like, Ah, whatever. His attitude is what’s keeping him from being a Sugar Ray Leonard of the 70’s.”
“He says, Oh I cast myself as the villain. No he didn’t. That’s the way he is.”
“I truly feel that Mayweather Jr. needs a humbling experience. He really is a little brat. Just the way he comes across. I mean, he’s very arrogant. I mean, obviously we were on the press tour for so many days. And he can get up on the podium and say a few nice things. And then his real side will come out. I mean, he starts talking all this trash about I’m nothing and I haven’t fought anybody. And this and that. And it’s uncalled for. It’s unnecessary. I mean, you would never see Tiger Woods talk bad about Jack Nicklaus. It’s just something that’s disrespectful.”
