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Oscar De La Hoya was left disappointed by the final act of the trilogy in which he once played a major role.
The former six-division Hall of Fame champion and head of Golden Boy Promotions entered fight week hoping the third fight between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin would be as memorable as the two. previous entries. The final result of his DAZN Pay-Per-View main event saw Alvarez take a lopsided unanimous decision over twelve largely drama-free rounds on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“The truth is that everyone is afraid to tell the truth,” De La Hoya said Sunday morning via social media. ‘[T]The fight was a f——up failure. ggg was old [as] f— and [Canelo] i can’t hold on [Bernard] Hopkins jockstrap.
Golden Boy Promotions took the lead in the first and second fights between Guadalajara’s Alvarez (58-2-2, 39KOs) and Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (42-2-1, 37KOs), both of which also took place at the T- Mobile Arena and on Mexican Independence Day Weekend.
Both were among the best fights of the year of 2017 and 2018, respectively, with uncertainty surrounding the outcome before the scorecards were read. The former ended in a split decision draw, though on one night most observers thought Golovkin, then undefeated, deserved to win a decision and retain his WBC/WBA/IBF middleweight titles. Alvarez claimed a majority decision in their September 2018 rematch in a fight that preceded his and Golden Boy’s lineup with DAZN, which had just launched at the time. It also left Golovkin tied with Hopkins for the most consecutive middleweight title defenses (20), though those who oppose the claim will point out that Golovkin’s first six title fights came with a secondary middleweight title from the WBA at stake.
Saturday’s trilogy lacked the action and intensity of its predecessors, along with the involvement of Golden Boy Promotions, who parted ways with Alvarez in a bitter divorce in late 2020. The company is also the subject of an active lawsuit brought by Golovkin. , who claimed that he is still owed money by Golden Boy from the September 2018 rematch with Álvarez.
Still, De La Hoya entered fight night with the best of intentions.
“I wish @Canelo and @GGGBoxing all the best and may they have all the strength and courage to bring the fans an all-out WAR,” De La Hoya tweeted hours before the fight.
Alvarez defended at least one super middleweight title for the fourth time following Saturday’s win, along with his first defense as undisputed champion. The global superstar made history last November, knocking out Caleb Plant in the eleventh round to become the division’s first undisputed champion. The feat was followed by a failed attempt to become a two-time light heavyweight champion, losing a twelve round decision to WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol on May 7 also at T-Mobile Arena.
Golovkin ended a four-fight win streak after Saturday’s loss. The fight was his first at the full super middleweight limit, having fought almost exclusively at middleweight during his 16-plus-year career. He remains the unified WBA/IBF middleweight champion but will have to face secondary WBA middleweight champion Erislandy Lara within the next 120 days, per an existing order from the sanctioning body. The three blemishes in Golovkin’s record have come in his trilogy with Alvarez.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
