"The following day, they retracted the announcement in saying we're open to working with Golden Boy. Look, we've done many fights with Mayweather. We've promoted the last 7, 8 fights. Like I said, Golden Boy has been involved in the biggest events in boxing history, including my fight with Floyd Mayweather, which shattered every pay-per-view record out there. We have more than competent people at Golden Boy to take care of business and move forward," stated Golden Boy Promotions Presiden Oscar De La Hoya, who made it clear that he still hopes to work with undefeated pound-for-pound king Floyd "Money" Mayweather. Earlier this month, Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe clarified that when it comes to Floyd Mayweather and his future fights, the only fighter they would consider having a discussion with Golden Boy Promotions about is Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. Other than that, Ellerbe insists that he would simply deal directly with influential advisor Al Haymon, who works with a number of fighters that have previously been promoted by Golden Boy.
"I don't know what fighters they have and what fighters they don't have. That's not my business and I'm not concerned with that, but if we're looking to make a fight with a guy like Danny Garcia or Amir Khan or Marcos Maidana, their company is in a flux right now and I would be picking up the phone to call the same person I already talk to 8 or 9 times a day anyway [Al Haymon]. We've already got the ball rolling on a number of different things as it relates to getting out in front of our promotion; a number of different strategies on marketing and promoting for September. This train doesn't stop," Ellerbe explained in a recent interview with FightHype.com.
De La Hoya, however, sees it differently and believes there will still be opportunities for his company to work with Mayweather, especially if plans for a potential rematch with former welterweight champion Marcos Maidana come to fruition. "I haven't heard anything about a rematch. That's one fight that I would love to see again. Maidana's a fighter. He's one of those fighters that you just have to root for. You know, he comes from Argentina, from basically poverty, and he's working his way up and he gets to fight Floyd Mayweather and actually puts a good fight up against the very best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet, and why not see it again," De La Hoya commented during a recent appearance on Fox Sports Live.
Of course, that begs the question: Is Marcos Maidana really a Golden Boy fighter? According to Maidana's manager, Sebastian Contursi, that still has to be figured out, which is exactly what their lawyers are doing now as they review his contractual situation. "Our lawyers are revising Marcos' contractual situation so we'll have to wait a bit until they clarify it for us," Contursi recently informed FightHype.com when asked if Maidana was a free agent.
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