‘I do believe it was scripted’: De La Hoya goes off on ‘awful’ Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson fight
Oscar De La Hoya says Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor benefited most from the event.
Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya had he weekly sound off yesterday, and started by reviewing last weekend’s big event between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson — a fight De La Hoya believes was scripted.
De La Hoya would then go on a rant about how it’s the fighters today who are killing the sport of boxing rather than the promoters or managers, and hopes to see things ultimately turn around for the betterment of the sport. Here’s some of what he had to say below.
“Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul was by its nature a horrible fight right from the start,” De La Hoya said. “It was just awful. Mike almost fell down during his walk up and he was on quicksand since the first 10 seconds of the fight. Oh, and did you see that 58-year-old ass? It was wishful thinking for all those idiots who thought they were going to get Mike Tyson of the 90s come out and rip somebody’s head off.
“Now everyone is talking about how staged this fight was. I do believe it was scripted, and I believe Tyson was certainly held back. Look, I’m a fighter and I can see it. It goes on the record and it was sanctioned, so Jake Paul paid to get the W on his record. For what? For your own personal satisfaction? I keep telling you if you want to be a real fighter like you say you want to be, what are you doing? Like who’s next, Joe Biden? You have to fight real fighters.
“However, the fight drew 65 million households which means roughly 200 million eyeballs were watching and the huge winners were Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor, who put on an incredible, real fight and were introduced to new fans around the world.
“Boxing has been in hibernation. It’s like a sleeping bear. Boxing has been the most popular sport since the beginning of time. Lately it’s been Mayweather vs McGregor, who fought in the ring, not the octagon, because boxing is king. But we have to get our s—t together. Fighters are not daring to be great and we are stuck accepting mediocre fights.
“Look, being a fighter and now a promoter, knowing the ins and outs because I’m in it, I have to say it’s the fighters who are killing the sport. People try to blame the promoters or the managers or the trainers — no, it’s the fighters. I was one and I can tell you that if my camp urged me to fight someone and I wanted to fight somebody else, we were going to fight who I wanted to fight.
“The fighters today don’t think they’re getting paid enough or they’re scared of taking a L. For example, back in the day Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward weren’t the most popular fighters and weren’t getting paid the most during their time, but we respect them today because they fought their hearts out and came back for another day. The UFC fighters, they get paid peanuts and they go out on their shields...but in boxing we know the outcome of the ‘big fights’ these days before the fight even starts.
“Look at the Canelo fight. Edgar Berlanga went on a month-long victory celebration because he lasted 12 rounds? He f-ckin’ lost and acted like it was a good thing? This is where we’re at because it comes from the top.”