Oscar De La Hoya criticized the undercard of the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford event during his Clap Back Thursday edition this week.
Calling for Matchmaker’s Firing
He pointed out that Turki Alalashikh has wasted his money on the undercard, as he felt it was poor to the extreme. De La Hoya recommended that Turki fire his matchmaker. Of course, he wouldn’t do that because Dana White had a hand in assembling the card.
Oscar said that if he were in charge of the event, he would have matched David Benavidez against Hamzah Sheeraz as the co-feature, with the winner facing the winner of the Canelo-Crawford fight.
“As far as the undercard, I feel bad for Turki, wasting all that money. You have to fire your matchmakers, Turki,” said promoter Oscar De La Hoya during a rare edition of his Clap Back Thursdays, bashing the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford undercard.
Turki should have done more to include an undercard that fit what he’d labeled “The fight of the century” between Canelo and Crawford. The fans weren’t interested in the undercard during the buildup and remained unengaged throughout the event.
A Missed Opportunity for Turki
“It was the biggest fight of the decade, and your matchmakers, not you, put on that undercard. You paid all that money and had the biggest stage in boxing on Netflix. And that was the best they could do?” said De La Hoya.
Oscar isn’t the only one who was critical of the barebones undercard for the Canelo-Crawford card. Many fans had the same reaction. The co-feature was a fight between junior middleweight prospects Callum Walsh and Fernando Vargas Jr. The only arguably good fight on the undercard was the Christian Mbilli vs. Lester Martinez match.
De La Hoya’s Promotion Blueprint
“If I were matchmaking, I would have put Sheeraz against Benavidez as the co-main event, with the winner fighting the winner of Canelo-Crawford next. That’s how you promote. That’s how you matchmake,” said De La Hoya.
The problem with using David Benavidez vs. Hamzah Sheeraz as the co-feature is two-fold:
- Upstaging Canelo-Crawford: The card already faced this issue with the Christian Mbilli vs. Lester Martinez undercard fight being the most entertaining contest of the event. Placing Benavidez vs. Sheeraz on the undercard would have taken away a lot of interest in Canelo vs. Crawford during the promotion and the night of the fight.
- It wouldn’t set up a big fight: The winner of the Canelo vs. Crawford fight likely would have never agreed to face Benavidez. Crawford already said no to a fight with Benavidez. The perception fans have is that Canelo has been avoiding ‘The Mexican Monster’ for years.