OSCAR DE LA HOYA believes the much anticipated clash between Miguel Cotto and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez will eclipse Floyd Mayweather v Manny Pacquiao and become the biggest fight in boxing history.
It was announced yesterday [August 13] that the pair will meet at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on November 21 in a fight the boxing world has long clamoured for.
Speaking after the announcement, De La Hoya, who promotes ‘Canelo’, claimed the fight will become the largest the sport has ever seen.
“The fight is huge now. Obviously we recognize that in May, Mayweather-Pacquiao was taking place, and now that that fiasco is all over with, we can focus on promoting the biggest fight in the history of the sport in November,” he said.
“So we have no obstacles in front of us. We have our engines revved up ready to go and we’re going to promote this event to the world, and it’s going to be one of those events that the world is going to talk about for many years to come.”
While details of tickets and the promotional tour are yet to be announced, De La Hoya stated that the pay-per-view event (on HBO in the US) will be less than $100, the price of Mayweather-Pacquiao.
De La Hoya also feels the fight could well become the biggest in the historic rivalry between Mexico, Alvarez’s home country, and Puerto Rico, where Cotto hails from.
“Let’s talk a little bit about the rivalry. I mean, it doesn’t get any better than this,” he noted.
“Puerto Rico versus México, boxing’s best rivalry, without a doubt, this fight will be the most exciting, the most action packed and the most intense in recent years. You go back to the Julio César Chávez days and you go back to Salvador Sánchez, the list goes on and on and on.
“And now Miguel Cotto and ‘Canelo’ Alvarez will write their own history, one that people will remember for a very long time as being one of the best fights in the history of the sport. Both fighters are willing, are hungry, are ready, and we cannot wait for this action packed fight that’s guaranteed [to be exciting] because of their styles.”
