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Sunday, January 25, 2009
Golden Boy Paid $5 Million by "The T-shirt Guys"?
 While most MMA fans were focused on the battle brewing between Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski in Anaheim, or anticipating Sunday night's WEC card in San Diego, HBO boxing commentators Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant were once again taking their jabs at mixed martial arts during the HBO telecast of the boxing match between "Sugar" Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito.
But in the not-so-subtle barbs they tossed at one of the fastest growing sports in the world, they revealed a juicy little tidbit -- surely by accident -- about Oscar De La Hoya and his company's "commitment" to MMA.
"And celebrities here tonight, there's Sugar Ray Leonard in about the fourth row, and his one time Contender colleague Sly Stallone is in the front row," revealed Lampley. He continued, "George Lopez is here tonight, good buddy with the promoter. Mark Wahlberg comes to every major prize fight at Staples. Joe Pesci, a Goodfella, called this reporter for tickets. I didn't have 'em, but he got them somewhere else.
"And there's one big name celebrity, Larry, who isn't here tonight..."
"A celebrity who is here in bronze only," quipped Merchant, referring to a bronze statue of Oscar De La Hoya that stands outside the Staples Center. "Oscar De La Hoya, the live version, is in nearby Anaheim, where his company got a $5 million fee from a t-shirt maker so that he would be personally involved in the promotion of a mixed martial arts show."
He added, "It would take that much, Jim, to get me to go to one of those things."
Aside from Lampley and Merchant's degrading banter, the fee that Golden Boy Promotions received for De La Hoya's promised participation, if true, is quite revealing in regards to the wavering front that Golden Boy has presented when it comes to its involvement in MMA.
"We like to be involved with big fights," De La Hoya told MMAWeekly.com earlier in the week. "Fedor and Arlovski, I don't think it gets any bigger than this."
You probably wouldn't have to pay many people $5 million to say that, but evidently, that is De La Hoya's price... oh, and Merchant's too.Labels: Affliction, Golden Boy Promotions, Oscar De La Hoya
posted by MMAInsiderBLOG @ 12:47 AM
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excellent, you repeated dana's degrading nickname for affliction and you also repeated larry merchants claim without saying that it might be true or might be not true
boxing analysts see the writing on the wall. There archaic sport can't match mma.
Reply @ anonymous1
They probably know more than you do. U think?
since larry has a grudge against mma we don't know if it's true about the five million. maybe he was talking about the affliction sponsorship of GBP that they've had for a while
Yeah, he couldve been making that shit up just to take a stab. Larry is douchebag who doesnt understand the sport and he is jealous that its taking some of the boxing fans. With as much shit as he talks, he would have to be paid 5 mill to come to an MMA show because he would probably get beaten up. Lol!
We did note that it is not confirmed, saying:
De La Hoya's promised participation, if true,
Larry hates MMA and let´s be honest, it´s a threat to their jobs. Lampley and Merchant are old school boxing fans who don´t want to see something new in town, that might threaten to take away their ringside seats. They aren´t true experts, more like old cry babies who aren´t acting very professional. Really though, who cares? Merchant is like 1000 years old and DLH eyes were popping out of his head when Fedor knocked Andre out. You can bet Golden Boy wants to see more of that..
Boxing is going downhill. No one really gives a flying sh*t about the sport anymore. Once Oscar is gone boxing will be obsolete. Only the latinos will watch and a few of the hardcore. Boxing's rankings are fixed and the top fighters always avoid each other till one of them takes a loss or starts to decline. Larry Merchant and Jim Lampley know the sport is dying and will soon be obscure. MMA is swallowing up boxing and everybody knows it except Larry and Jim Lampley.
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