Mexican boxing great and former four-division world champion Juan Manuel Marquez has levied some serious allegations against his former promoter Oscar De La Hoya. Juan Manuel Marquez fought a total of 11 fights under Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, starting in 2006. However, who would have thought that their relationship would end in such a distasteful manner?

Before Marquez’s third bout with Manny Pacquiao in November 2011, ‘Dinamita’ chose not to renew his contract with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. According to Marquez, this led to a dispute between the two parties. The 51-year-old during an almost three-hour-long interview on ‘Un Round Más’ recalled a time when Oscar De La Hoya had met him during the contract negotiation period. 

“He says, ‘I see you’re not renewing. We want 20% of your earnings from the Pacquiao fight’,” Marquez recalled (in Spanish). He was initially against the idea entirely, as he refused to give a share of his earnings from the fight. It’s worth noting that while Pacquiao walked home with $22 million, Marquez got a $5 million paycheck for the fight, 20% of which would have been $1 million. 

Regardless, Marquez revealed that when he did not pay the cut of his purse, “they accused me of stealing from them. They called me a thief.” This seems to have forced Marquez into a corner, as he agreed to pay Oscar De La Hoya the money he asked for. “I told Oscar, sure, 20%? No problem,” Marquez said. However, he had no intention of paying Oscar De La Hoya the cut from his Manny Pacquiao fight earnings. “In my mind, I thought, yeah, I’ll give it after you stole from me for five years?” he asked rhetorically with a tinge of anger.

“I don’t care if he hears this. Let him know. He tried to charge me a percentage for the Pacquiao fight,” Marquez said, now visibly bubbling with anger. As a result, soon after, Marquez decided to part ways with the promotion. However, this isn’t the only time when Golden Boy Promotions head, Oscar De La Hoya, has been accused by his boxers of strong-arming them. Forget about the short-lived feud with Ryan Garcia—we are talking about Canelo Alvarez, who was an ex-Golden Boy fighter. 

Oscar De La Hoya sends a cease-and-desist letter to Canelo Alvarez

Oscar De La Hoya has taken legal action against Canelo Alvarez, sending him a cease-and-desist letter accusing Alvarez of “defamatory allegations” related to financial misconduct. The dispute centers around claims Alvarez made, alleging that De La Hoya stole money from fighters like himself and Gennady Golovkin. The letter obtained by ESPN demands Alvarez retract his statements and stop making further defamatory comments.

The conflict escalated after Alvarez’s comments at a press conference before his fight against Jaime Munguia in May. Alvarez criticized De La Hoya, accusing him of stealing and advising other fighters to be wary, saying, “If I hadn’t involved my lawyers you would steal from me.”

De La Hoya’s attorney, Ricardo P. Cestero, claims that Alvarez’s accusations were intended to damage De La Hoya’s reputation and warn other boxers against working with him, labeling the statements as “defamatory” and made with “actual malice.”

In response, Alvarez’s attorney Gregory M. Smith argued that Alvarez’s comments were based on findings from audits showing discrepancies in payments, referencing a similar lawsuit by Golovkin. De La Hoya has vowed to sue for defamation, stating, “This was my perfect moment to let him know how I feel.”

From the statements of both Juan Manuel Marquez and Canelo Alvarez, it appears that Oscar De La Hoya has had more than a few financial issues with his fighters over the years. These accusations may gravely affect his reputation and deter other boxers from joining his company. Even Shakur Stevenson opted to join Matchroom Boxing instead when he could have joined Golden Boy and gotten a fight against William Zepeda instantly. What are your thoughts on the matter? Is there any truth to the accusations in your opinion?