Oscar De La Hoya, the Hall of Fame fighter whose Golden Boy Promotions has become one of boxing's leading promoters, shredded Floyd Mayweather in an open letter, saying that he was "boring" and that "the fight game will be a better one without you in it" in the wake of his recent retirement.
In the letter, which appears in the December edition of
Playboy magazine, De La Hoya took all kinds of shots at Mayweather, the former pound-for-pound king who retired following his expected rout of Andre Berto on Sept. 12.
"You did it. You made it to the 49-0 mark, a milestone that you like to say only the great Rocky Marciano reached but that was actually achieved by others, including my idol Julio Cesar Chavez -- but who's counting," De La Hoya wrote. "And now you're retiring. Again. (The first time was after our fight in 2007.) This time you say it's for real. You're serious about hanging up the gloves. On to bigger and better things. So I'm writing to you today to wish you a fond farewell. Truth be told, I'm not unhappy to see you retire. Neither are a lot of boxing fans. Scratch that. MOST boxing fans. Why? Because the fight game will be a better one without you in it."