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NOTES FROM THE BOXING UNDERGROUND: TALES OF KITCHEN UTENSILS AND BUILDING WALLS

By Paul Magno | April 16, 2018
NOTES FROM THE BOXING UNDERGROUND: TALES OF KITCHEN UTENSILS AND BUILDING WALLS

What a weird week in boxing news. In the absence of a big fight or even buzz about a big fight, general strangeness reigned supreme. From bizarre sex romps to ill-conceived political stances to cosmetic knee surgeries—these are the stories that stood apart from the usual press release-as-news boxing reports:

-- Oscar De la Hoya is apparently involved in another bizarre sex scandal.

According to the UK’s Daily Mail, De la Hoya was the target of a blackmail attempt from two supposed Instagram models, who the former six-division world champ and founder of Golden Boy Promotions met online and subsequently invited to his luxury condominium in downtown Pasadena, California. 

Once inside the ex-fighter’s residence, partying allegedly ensued and De la Hoya (as he is apparently wont to do) got into mega-freaky, gender-bending sex mode. According to the Daily Mail, the girls recorded all sorts of depravity and, in one especially odd scene, recorded themselves performing sex acts on De la Hoya with kitchen utensils. 

But, alas, there appeared to be an ugly motive behind that night of dirty fun with rolling pins and meat thermometers (I’m guess at the utensils used). 

The girls, with video in their possession, then allegedly tried to blackmail De la Hoya for the sum of $2 million. And when he balked at paying that sum, the pair of kitchen violators went to De la Hoya’s ex-wife Shanna Moakler in an attempt to pressure her to lean on De la Hoya and urge him to pay the money for the sake of their 19-year-old daughter. 

The girls even approached celebrity sex tape broker Kevin Blatt in an effort to sell the video, but were turned down when Blatt sensed that extortion was behind the making of the tape.

The FBI has reportedly been contacted and is investigating the situation, although the agency refused to acknowledge the existence of an investigation to the Daily Mail.

The Hall of Famer is no stranger to this type of weirdness. Back in 2007, a Serbian stripper named Milana Dravnel released photos of a cross-dressing De la Hoya decked out in fishnets, panties, and high heels (and boxing gloves!) taken during a night of partying. De la Hoya, at first, vehemently denied the validity of those photos, but later confessed that they were real, pinning the blame on his long-standing battle with drug and alcohol addiction.

Here’s hoping De la Hoya at least had the decency to throw out those utensils featured in the sex video.  

-- Speaking of Golden Boy’s penchant for placing things in orifices, GBP president Eric Gomez (or a GBP spokesperson) may have put his foot in his mouth by saying that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s recent trip to the hospital was for “cosmetic” surgery when Alvarez and all available reports claim that he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.

"I want to share with you that today that I had to undergo an arthroscopic surgery to repair the internal femoral cartilage and to eliminate a fold in my right knee. I dismiss the erroneous information published by Golden Boy president Eric Gomez. Thanks for worrying, and in three to four weeks I'll be like new," Canelo posted via social media, alongside a picture of him in a hospital bed, wearing a knee brace.

Subsequent, apparent face-saving reports have called the surgery “cosmetic knee surgery,” whatever the hell that means. 

-- Super featherweight Rod Salka decided to get political this past Thursday when he fought Francisco Vargas at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California—and it blew up in his face.

Decked out in his Trump-loving “America 1st” trunks with a red, white, and blue brick pattern to represent the wall Trump and his angry ReTrumplikins want to build on the border, Salka proudly and defiantly entered the ring against the former world champ from Mexico City.

Then, Vargas promptly beat the shit out of Salka.

Realistically, Vargas was just much, much better than Salka and would’ve walked right through him whether the Pittsburgh native was wearing Trump trunks or an adult diaper. Salka’s corner throwing in the towel after six rounds was merciful, if a bit anticlimactic for the Trump haters watching the fight.

Forget politics, though. Salka should’ve known what he was facing and he would’ve been wise to not risk adding extra fuel to Vargas’ fire by getting all “Right Wing” with a silly political statement. At the very least, Salka should’ve known how stupid he’d look when Vargas beat the crap out of him

“To tell you the truth, I was surprised by the message [of the trunks], I didn’t expect that,” Vargas told Mexican news site, Excelsior.com, “but I tried to calm myself down and follow my game plan…I won’t deny that it made me mad, because it was an offensive message, and I do think it served to inspire me to go forward with more force, using that anger.”

In the aftermath of an embarrassing ass kicking that garnered tons of mainstream attention, Salka has been mocked mercilessly and is pretty much a laughingstock in the boxing community. He even had to disable his Facebook account because of excessive trolling. #MAGA

-- There may be an initiative in Nicaragua to force the thrice-retired home country hero, Ricardo Mayorga, to stay retired. 

The 45-year-old Mayorga, looking out of shape and ill-prepared for a fight, was stopped in eight rounds last Saturday in Laredo, Texas by local club fighter Rodolfo Gomez Jr. The bout drew the ire of the Nicaraguan Institute of Sports, which will petition the Nicaraguan Professional Boxing Commission to sanction Mayorga and impose binding worldwide retirement. 

The former two-division world champ had not been given permission to fight by his home commission and was, therefore, ineligible to pick up and fight anywhere else. Mayorga, who receives support from the Nicaraguan government, is supposedly bound by the commission’s decisions regarding his career—but, obviously, he doesn’t necessarily agree with those terms. 

The call for sanctions is reportedly about “safety and health,” but it’s clearly also a “you’re a national hero and you’re making us look horrible” warning shot.

Got something for Magno? Send it here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com

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