The fact that the Los Angeles-based firm have scooped SecondsOut?s award for Promoter of the Year for the fifth year in succession is proof, if it was needed, that Oscar De La Hoya is as much the ?Golden Boy? with his promotional hat on as he has been in the ring with a pair of 10 ounce Cleto Reyes on his hands.
While rival promoters such as Bob Arum and Frank Warren have argued that Golden Boy have done nothing to develop young talent, the fact remains that they are the one organisation in the last two years who has staged events that have transcended the sport and got non-boxing people talking. Those events were of course last year?s ?The World Awaits? and the massive ?Dream Match? encounter between the promoter himself and pound for pound great Manny Pacquiao early this month.
The De La Hoya ? Pacquiao fight itself had a live gate that totalled close to $17m (US) and had 1.25 million PPV buys but that clash was merely the pinnacle of 12 months of fistic splendor.
Make a Fight In the past year, Golden Boy Promotions have brought us the Juan Manuel Marquez ? Manny Pacquiao rematch, the war between Joel Casamayor and Michael Katsidis and Joe Calzaghe?s first stateside fight against Golden Boy partner Bernard Hopkins to name just a few.
Also, until its recent demise, they regularly had shows on Telefutura?s Spanish-language series Solo Boxeo, where they allowed some of their Hispanic talent such as Abner Mares, David Lopez and Vincente Escobedo to showcase their skills.
May of this year was a mammoth month for Golden Boy as they sold out the 28,500 capacity Home Depot Center when Oscar took on Steve Forbes and they were involved in the promotion of Ricky Hatton?s ?Homecoming? show which attracted 57,000 people to the City of Manchester Stadium to see the ?Hitman? fight former lightweight contender Juan Lazcano.
This year has also seen them expand into Europe through partnerships with Ricky Hatton?s Punch Promotions and David Haye?s Hayemaker Promotions.
?Golden Boy Promotions are forward-thinking businessmen who are in this sport to protect the well-being of boxers,? David Haye said when launching his company in May. ?One of their main goals is to empower the boxer and that is something I believe in too. Oscar is the perfect man to join alliances with and improve the state of boxing. That is my ultimate intention as both a world champion boxer and promoter.?
Despite Golden Boy?s obvious success this year, many of their promotions have not done as well as anticipated due to the current economic climate. As SecondsOut?s Thomas Hauser highlighted recently, not all of the tickets were sold for the Hatton ? Malignaggi fight on November 22nd, and while officially De La Hoya?s bout with Pacquiao was a sell-out, issues with brokers purchasing tickets in large numbers and not being able to shift them on lead there being some empty seats at the MGM Grand at fight time. The feeling though is, with the world economy in its current state, any promoter would have encountered similar problems.
And 2009 already looks set to be a rosy year for De La Hoya, Schaefer and co with one of the marquee name partners, Shane Mosley, due to return in January against welterweight number one Antonio Margarito and a clash between Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz pencilled in for late February.
It seems likely that Ricky Hatton will face Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas and Bernard Hopkins will continue to defy his age and the critics. There?s also the possibility of the ?Golden Boy? himself trying to eradicate the memory of his crushing defeat to the ?Pac Man? with another swan song.
It could also be the year in which two of the sports brightest prospects, ?Vicious? Victor Ortiz and James Kirkland land themselves shots at world honours.
On a final note, it must be added that despite Golden Boy Promotions being voted Promoter of the Year again, they were run very close by Top Rank Incorporated this time and this writer believes that credit must also be given to Bob Arum and his associates for the shows they treated us to, which included Pavlik – Taylor 2 and the blood and guts battle between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito.
