Oscar De La Hoya and his Clapping Duck

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Oscar De La Hoya and his Clapping Duck - Boxing Image

It always stings when a fight fan learns that boxing is a business and that the sport is not a noble art where warriors go to battle only for the sake of warrior pride. But there’s a reason it’s called “prizefighting.”

Just yesterday, promoter Oscar De La Hoya proved that he’s all about business when it comes to his fighter William Zepeda and a possible clash with WBC lightweight champ Shakur Stevenson.

With rumors raging about the possibility of De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, perhaps, signing the recent free agent, Stevenson, to make a bout with their lightweight top contender Zepeda, the Hall of Fame fighter-turned-promoter threw a bucket of cold water on the idea.

In a new social media feature he calls “Clap Back Thursday,” where he teased that he would be selecting “the dumbest, lowest level insults people hurl at me” and respond with his own comments via video, De La Hoya, instead, addressed three business-related issues.

The first two of those issues were related to Stevenson.

“Shakur Stevenson, you’re a free agent, you’re a great fighter, a great talent, but not for me,” De La Hoya said. “I believe that when somebody says you’re not fighting for the public, I cannot promote.”

Among the first to respond to the “clap back” was Stevenson, himself, who seems stuck to his social media apps lately. The 27-year-old lightweight titlist would answer via Twitter/X.

“he mad cause he found out I’m not signing wit him it’s ok @OscarDeLaHoya
you’ll get over it,” Stevenson wrote. “And I never knew there was P**sy Mexicans all the ones I know have cojones.”

This bucket of cold water on Stevenson-Zepeda follows another one days earlier, where De La Hoya took to social media and pre-clapped back at the WBC ordering a title fight between Zepeda and Stevenson, scoffing at the idea that the sanctioning body could force his guy to fight anyone.

All of this is from the promoter who, last week, claimed that he had a meeting with Stevenson’s people and had set the demand that Stevenson would have to be signed to Golden Boy for Zepeda to fight him.

Technically, De La Hoya isn’t lying. Per his own “clap back,” he won’t sign Stevenson to a promotional deal. So, if being signed to Golden Boy is a prerequisite for fighting Zepeda, then the fight can never happen. See? (I’m clapping my hands Oscar-style right now).

All in all, this is just a common sense business move from De La Hoya. He’s keeping his fighter away from an opponent who has a style that can make him look bad. This is commonplace in the world of prizefighting and part of the whole star-building matchmaking process.

What makes it look lousy, though, is De La Hoya’s run of “Zepeda is BEGGING to fight you” bluster that painted the narrative of Zepeda burning to get his hands on Stevenson– which was, in and of itself, cringe-worthy because Golden Boy had already turned down a Stevenson fight for Zepeda last year.

Most likely, Zepeda will be guided down a path of least resistance en route to a world title. That’s just how the business of boxing works.



Last Updated on 07/19/2024