Usually volatile promoter Lou DiBella sees no news value in Oscar de la Hoya’s public proclamation that Golden Boy must rule boxing to the exclusion of competitors.
Speaking to Broadcasting & Cable, the Golden Boy said his Golden Boy outfit can enhance the sport/business by following the monolithic UFC model in which one promoter calls all the shots.
I guess the tipoff to this was GBP’s chosen nickname for the Mosley-Mora card, “Celebrate & Dominate.”
The key word is “dominate.”
Maybe their next promotion will be call “Who R We Putting Out of Business?”
Oscar did not go so far as to say that GBP would create its own TV platform as Dana White and the Fertita Brothers have done with their organization but promoter Big Gary Shaw told me Monday that day is coming when HBO will get pushed aside.
Bob Arum of Top Rank joked that all other promoters would have to set up “a bonfire in Las Vegas where we can burn our licenses.”
Arum said Oscar’s business plan reminds him of the Soviet Union and said he prefers competition under capitalism.
But DiBella, known to have a conniption over minor issues, is nonplussed.
“Frankly, I don’t see any news in this. That’s been the approach of Golden Boy for some time and they have been aided by some co-conspirators.
“My response is that this (model) is something we’ve been seeing in action for some time, nothing new to it at all.”
Inherent in de la Hoya’s spiel is that GBP will eventually crush the “small fish,” meaning DiBella, Shaw, Kathy Duva and Joe DeGuardia and then steamroll Arum and Top Rank as well.
One world, one fight promoter, boxers will have a choice.
They can fight for Golden Boy or choose another line of work.
