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Oscar De La Hoya was underwhelmed by the final act of the trilogy in which he once played a significant role.
The Hall of Fame former six-division titlist and head of Golden Boy Promotions entered fight week with the hope that the third fight between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin would be as memorable as the previous two entries. The end result of their DAZN Pay-Per-View main event saw Alvarez take a lopsided unanimous decision over twelve rounds largely devoid of drama Saturday evening at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“The truth is everyone is afraid of speaking the truth,” De La Hoya stated Sunday morning via social media. ‘[T]he fight was a f—–n dud. GGG was old [as] f— and [Canelo] can’t hold [Bernard] Hopkins’ jockstrap.”
Golden Boy Promotions took the lead in the first and second fight between Guadalajara’s Alvarez (58-2-2, 39KOs) and Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (42-2-1, 37KOs), both of which also took place at T-Mobile Arena and on Mexican Independence Day weekend.
Both were among the year’s best fights of 2017 and 2018, respectively, with uncertainty surrounding the outcome prior to the scorecards being read. The first ended in a split decision draw, though on a night most observers thought a then-unbeaten Golovkin 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 preceding his and Golden Boy’s alignment with DAZN which had just launched at the time. It also left Golovkin tied with Hopkins for 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 WBA middleweight title 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 towards the end of 2020. The company is also the subject of an active lawsuit filed by Golovkin who claimed he is still owed money by Golden Boy from the September 2018 rematch with Alvarez.
Still, De La Hoya began fight night with the best of intentions.
“Wishing @Canelo and @GGGBoxing all the best and may they have all the strength and courage possible to deliver 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 champ. The global superstar made history last November, knocking out Caleb Plant in the eleventh round to become the division’s first-ever undisputed champion. The feat was followed by a failed bid to become a two-time light heavyweight titlist, losing a twelve-round decision to WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol on May 7 also at T-Mobile Arena.
Golovkin ended a four-fight win streak following Saturday’s defeat. The bout was his first at the full super middleweight limit, having fought almost exclusively at middleweight for the duration of his 16-plus year career. He remains the unified WBA/IBF middleweight titlist but will have to next face secondary WBA middleweight titlist Erislandy Lara within the next 120 days, per an existing order from the sanctioning body. All three blemishes on Golovkin’s record have come in his trilogy with Alvarez.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox