“They Pretend Like They’re Really Mad at Each Other”: Golden Boy Promotions’ Architect Blows the Lid Off Oscar De La Hoya’s Beef With Canelo Alvarez (Exclusive)

Outside the squared circle, the rivalry brewing between Oscar De La Hoya and his once-prized pugilist, Canelo Alvarez, has become an indelible thread woven into the rich tapestry of boxing lore, marked by unparalleled chaos. As time passed, their discord swelled to such magnitude that even a fleeting encounter could ignite a storm. This was starkly evident during the Canelo Alvarez vs. Jaime Munguia press conference not long ago, where tensions soared to the brink of eruption, threatening to spill over into a full-blown altercation right there on the stage. However, Oscar’s former business partner and the kingpin of sports marketing, Leonard Armato thinks—all that animosity could be all but a facade, a notion he candidly shared during a conversation with Essentially Sports’ very own NBA correspondent Vishal Kolar.

Deep in the boxing lore, Oscar De La Hoya was done with Top Rank and wanted to become in charge of his own destiny, meaning his own fights, his own money and his own success. This resulted in him starting Golden Boy Promotions in 2001, a historic move for sure. However, it wasn’t him alone—a big part of Golden Boy’s success can be credited to Leonard Armato. It was the former NBA player turned athlete marketing genius, who managed and helped Oscar with forming his promotional company. Armato helped create the very brand by fabricating a marketing strategy for Golden Boy Promotions. So, who better to shed light on Oscar’s feud with Canelo and how all this could be a sham? 

Vishal Kolar: When an athlete posts something versus you in a large part of the narrative, you were in control before. As an agent or a manager, is that something that makes you more nervous now or you’re like, ‘No, it creates a lot more good than bad?’

Leonard Armato: Well, I think you know the most important thing you can do if you [are] managing someone, representing someone is—agree on a plan, agree on a positioning and agree on a communication strategy. And hopefully, everything that they do will be consistent with that. If it isn’t consistent with that, of course, you can point it out and see if there’s any way to walk things back or do things differently, which athletes [often do]. I mean, you’ve seen LeBron James do that really effectively‌. He’ll say something and he’ll be like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ how could you say that? Then he kind of walks it back a little because his advisor tells him, ‘Hey, maybe you shouldn’t have gone that far.’ But I think that’s what your duty as a manager, an agent, a representative is to try to have [a] communication strategy, [and a] brand positioning for your athlete. And then, if they go off the plan, then you just sort of talk to them about it and see if you can pull it back. I think that the more closely you communicate along those lines, the better.

Hearing Armato’s expert advice on how to deal with athletes, especially the ones who can sway the public so effectively, Kolar quickly brought up the long-standing feud between Oscar and Canelo Alvarez.

Vishal Kolar: Oscar’s been in the news for a spat with Canelo where the latter accused Oscar of stealing from him while they work together, right? So, it’s like what are your thoughts on like these kinds of you know… They were friends, confidants, turned foes and how do you often see such historic deals breaking in your professional work?

Leonard Armato: Well, you know Oscar changed the whole face of boxing when we created Golden Boy promoter because in the past, boxers had promoters like Don King, Bob Arum, who took a huge percentage of the revenue in order to promote the fight. And usually with very little [risk], if any. So, we just came up with the idea that you could dis-intermediate them and Oscar could promote his own fights. And that’s the foundation of Golden Boy, which turned out to be a great concept. But when you’re used to being the star like Oscar was as a fighter, then it becomes… Let’s call it [a] conflict between the star promoter and the star fighter. And Oscar, obviously, wants to continue to put his name out there in a huge way. The eagle of a boxer, you know, who was once the most famous boxer in the world, is still intact. So, I’m sure there’s a little bit of that, a little bit of jealousy there between the fighter, who is really famous and the promoter who’s really famous… The boxing business, all these people are always like slinging mud at each other and then they forget it later. I mean, so I’ve seen that happen over and over again. It happened between Oscar and Bob Arum and then they made up. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if Oscar and Canelo make up because a lot of the fight game is hype [and] promotion. They pretend like they’re really mad at each other and then they get over it, so I wouldn’t put too much stock in that.

There’s some truth to the former NBA player’s suggestion, as he would know about the subject, having spent decades in it. However, the thing with Canelo and Oscar is, they have refused to put their differences aside on several occasions. Instead, saw it best as Armato said during the EssentiallySports Exclusive interview, throw mud at each other to keep their tussle going for years. However, how did all of this begin? What was so bad that the fighter-promoter duo, who share the same ethnic background and legendary status, had to get as far away from each other as possible? 

From Knockouts to Courtrooms: The Canelo Alvarez-Oscar De La Hoya Drama Unfolds

Everything began after September 2018, when Canelo defeated Gennady Golovkin via a majority decision. The Mexican superstar had signed a 11 fight – $365 million deal with DAZN, with the help of Oscar De La Hoya mediating the whole thing. The union was going to prove lucrative for both parties, as HBO, Canelo’s former broadcast home, was leaving the boxing scene and DAZN had just kick-started their operations in America and needed a frontrunner for their success. 

Things were off to a good start, as Canelo took on Rocky Fielding in December 2018, winning the fight via a dominant third round knockout and becoming a three-division world titlist. Then, as the second fight in their contract, Canelo took on Daniel Jacobs, then IBF middleweight champion, considered the cream of the crop. However, after defeating Jacobs by unanimous decision and winning the belt, things started to look down among DAZN, Oscar and Canelo. 

In September 2020, Canelo filed a lawsuit against his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, and broadcast partner DAZN Boxing, alleging a breach of contract while demanding $280 million in damages. The thing is, DAZN was under the impression that there will be a trilogy fight between Canelo and GGG, which had the potential to bring in millions in revenue.

While Oscar De La Hoya and DAZN were ready to get the show on the road, Canelo was uninterested or had no idea of any such fight happening, as his lawsuit said. Things just got even worse between Canelo and Oscar—the Guadalajara native believed his promoter was making promises to DAZN without his knowledge. 

Following the lawsuit, Canelo Alvarez wanted the money he was promised when he signed the deal with DAZN and DAZN Boxing wasn’t willing to pay Canelo $35 million per fight — for the eight fights that were left. Meanwhile, Oscar’s involvement in all this seemed to be the point of contention, with questions arising: What did Oscar promise to DAZN Boxing? And more importantly, was Canelo Alvarez aware of what Oscar had promised? The lawsuit was settled after two months, with Canelo Alvarez allowed to become a free agent. 

Given recent interactions between Canelo Alvarez and Oscar De La Hoya, it’s quite unlikely that their spat would ever resolve, especially because Canelo wants nothing to do with his former promoter. However, Leonard Armato has a wealth of experience dealing with such things as was evident during the EssentiallySports Exclusive interview, so maybe there’s hope of reconciliation. What do you think?