After watching the "verbal atrocities" of the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Conor McGregor international press tour, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya just "can’t bring himself to appreciate" the show, according to Lance Pugmire of the L.A. TIMES. De La Hoya said, "That’s part of the reason I’ve been so vocal toward Mayweather. He’s made (boxing) into a business, just a spectacle. Let’s trash talk and then once the fight comes around, it’s a bore, it’s a dud. It should be the other way." Speaking about his September fight against Gennady Golovkin, Canelo Alvarez said, "This is a different type of quality fight. Both fighters are professionals. There’s no reason to badmouth anybody. The world sees the difference between the fighters -- fighters who are there to fight and take the sport seriously, and others who are just putting on an entertainment show." Alvarez and Golovkin last week "shared a ring in their commercial and stopped their punches just short in a climactic scene intended to heighten the anticipation for their sold-out meeting at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas." The commercial is set in a '30s-era boxing gym in "homage to the vintage feel" of the matchup. De La Hoya’s fear is that a record PPV audience may spend $100 for Mayweather-McGregor, then "take out their outrage over the likely mismatch by not investing in Alvarez-Golovkin" (LATIMES.com, 7/19). USA TODAY's Martin Rogers notes De La Hoya "accepts that the cross-sport show will sell a huge number of pay per views but issued a fresh warning to buyers that the final product will fall way short of the hype." But De La Hoya "refused the temptation to encourage Alvarez and Golovkin, both understated characters, to change their style and engage in turbulent verbal warfare" (USA TODAY, 7/20).
