All eyes have been on Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez for months now, as anticipation has built for their megafight on Saturday, September 14th in Las Vegas. News has broken, however, that Alvarez's promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, is checking into a substance abuse rehabilitation program.
According to Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole, De La Hoya has gone public with his decision to enter rehab. Iole took to Twitter to release De La Hoya's full statement.
De La Hoya's statement reads, as follows:
"Canelo Alvarez and I have big fights coming up this weekend. His is the ring and mine in treatment. I will not be at the fight this Saturday to cheer Canelo to victory since I have voluntarily admitted myself disease must come first. Thank you for your understanding. I ask for your support and privacy during this difficult into a treatment facility. I explained this to Canelo and he understood that my health and longterm recovery from my time for me and my family."
De La Hoya's admission of addiction and decision to be absent from Saturday night's big time even casts a pall over the proceedings, and could add a whole new weight on Canelo's shoulders.
Alvarez is already carrying the hopes of Mexico on his back, and is facing the toughest opponent the sport has to offer on the biggest stage of his career. He also could have provided hope to Canelo, seeing as how he claims to have laid out the "blueprint" for beating "Money" May.
In De La Hoya's own historic bout against Mayweather in 2007, the "Golden Boy" used a quick, stiff jab on Floyd, and tried to bully him with flurries of activity. Ultimately, De La Hoya came up short, but he hopes that Alvarez can combine the blueprint with his own unique blend of speed and power to hand Mayweather the first loss of his career.
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