Oscar De La Hoya's continued dealings with HBO may be coming at the expense of his relationship with Showtime. Stephen Espinoza, the man who runs Showtime boxing, said Canelo Alvarez's move to HBO doesn't come as a shock, but he termed the manner in which they left "deceitful."
According to Espinoza, Showtime had received a multi-fight proposal to televise Alvarez's bouts three weeks ago.
"We accepted it," Espinoza told The Los Angeles Times. "And [Alvarez promoter] Oscar [De La Hoya] said, 'Canelo's going to be here for several years and we'll fly him up for a celebratory dinner [in New York].' "
On Tuesday, however, HBO announced that they would be showing Alvarez's fights going forward. An unhappy Espinoza hinted after the news broke that the relationship with De La Hoya may need repairing.
"The announcement didn't come as any surprise to me because Oscar has talked since July about wanting to having 'Canelo' fight Miguel Cotto in May with HBO fighters on the undercard," Espinoza said.
"But the deceitful manner Oscar went about it ... [as if] there's no repercussions to this promise that was reneged on with a company you do business with."
One of the major issues that held up a continued partnership between Alvarez and Showtime was his December 6 fight vs. Joshua Clottey. Espinoza refused to pay a $4 million licensing fee for Alvarez vs. Clottey, and preferred Alvarez to fight James Kirkland on that date.
Espinoza said that De La Hoya's method of moving Alvarez to HBO wasn't dissimilar to how he matched up light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins with Sergey Kovalev, an HBO fighter, over Adonis Stevenson.
"Not that different. ... I didn't get a good explanation, found out about it on Twitter," Espinoza said.
Espinoza also said that he didn't expect any shakeups within Showtime Sports as a result of Alvarez's departure. "I'm disappointed in how Golden Boy conducted these negotiations, but I'm not expecting sweeping changes after this."
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