The former pound-for-pound king insisted he had proof of this and even asked De La Hoya if he still owed his former foe Gennady Golovkin money for one of their first two fights.
However, De La Hoya adamantly denies this to be the case.
“I’m definitely going to sue for defamation,” De La Hoya told ESPN.
“Imagine the damage it can do to my reputation. Imagine what it can do to my business to fighters [who] are going to believe that. It’s terrible. We paid [Golovkin] everything he’s owed.’
“I’m going to defend myself when somebody’s speaking negative about me and that’s what I did.
“This was my perfect moment to let him know how I feel. It felt so good. Finally – I was just holding my tongue for all these years – and finally I can f***ing tell him in his face, put some f***ing respect on my name.”
Now, ESPN has obtained a letter from De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions addressed to Canelo, demanding he retract and refrain from making further allegations.
In the letter, De La Hoya’s attorney, Ricardo P. Cestero, wrote that Canelo “falsely accused Oscar of a crime with the specific intention of supposedly warning other boxers not to do business with Oscar or Golden Boy.”
“Clearly, Canelo internationally defamed Oscar and Golden Boy,” Cestero continued. “Canelo’s statements were also made with actual malice. … Oscar and Golden Boy reserve all rights to sue Canelo for the damages caused by these defamatory accusations, including punitive damages designed to ensure Canelo learns his lesson.”
Canelo’s attorney Gregory M. Smith told the same publication that his client had “said what he said.”
“Following the termination of his relationship with Golden Boy, Alvarez audited Golden Boy’s payments and deductions under his prior contracts,” Smith added. “The audit found that Alvarez was owed money.
“Court records show that GGG also audited Golden Boy and found that he had also been underpaid. GGG then sued Golden Boy for the missing funds.”
Canelo fought Golovkin three times with their rivalry split at two wins to the Mexican superstar and one draw.
De La Hoya was involved in their first two outings which took place in September 2017 and September 2018 as he was Canelo’s promoter at the time.
The pair had an acrimonious split in 2020 with Canelo suing De La Hoya and Golden Boy over a breach of contract before ultimately securing his free agency.
He has since bounced between promoters on a fight-by-fight basis and recently signed a one-fight deal with Al Haymon’s PBC for his upcoming clash against De La Hoya’s fighter Jaime Munguia on May 4.
The coming together of two sworn enemies has reignited their feud with Canelo and De La Hoya recently confronting each other in a furious altercation at the final press conference for the event on Wednesday.
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