Oscar De La Hoya needs Canelo Alvarez pull back ‘defamatory’ claims

LAS VEGAS — Oscar De La Hoya provided a cease-and-desist letter Thursday to Canelo Alvarez over what he states are “defamatory accusations” that the Golden Boy Promotions creator took cash from previous champ Gennadiy Golovkin, to name a few fighters.

The legal letter, a copy of which was acquired by ESPN, requires that Alvarez problem a retraction and avoid making additional defamatory remarks.

The action comes one day after stress emerged in between Alvarez and his previous longtime promoter at a press conference ahead of Alvarez’s undeniable extremely middleweight champion defense vs. Jaime Munguia on Saturday.

De La Hoya jabbed Alvarez by referencing his favorable test for the prohibited compound clenbuterol ahead of his 2018 rematch with Golovkin. Alvarez countered by alerting fighters to “call your legal representatives due to the fact that he is certainly taking from you. It’s the only thing he concerns carry out in boxing. … If I had not included my legal representatives you would take from me.”

In the letter to Alvarez, De La Hoya’s lawyer, Ricardo P. Cestero, composed that Canelo “incorrectly implicated Oscar of a criminal offense with the particular objective of apparently alerting other fighters not to do organization with Oscar or Golden Boy.”

“Clearly, Canelo worldwide disparaged Oscar and Golden Boy,” Cestero continued. “Canelo’s declarations were likewise made with real malice. … Oscar and Golden Boy reserve all rights to take legal action against Canelo for the damages triggered by these defamatory allegations, consisting of compensatory damages created to guarantee Canelo discovers his lesson.”

Alvarez lawyer Gregory M. Smith informed ESPN that Canelo, in making his remarks, “stated what he stated.”

“Following the termination of his relationship with Golden Boy, Alvarez audited Golden Boy’s payments and reductions under his previous agreements,” Smith stated. “The audit discovered that Alvarez was owed cash.

“Court records reveal that GGG likewise examined Golden Boy and discovered that he had actually likewise been underpaid. GGG then took legal action against Golden Boy for the missing funds.”

Golovkin taken legal action against De La Hoya in 2022 looking for up of $3 million he thought was owed from that rematch. De La Hoya informed ESPN on Wednesday that “we paid him whatever he’s owed.”

Alvarez, ESPN’s No. 4 pound-for-pound fighter, has actually completed 8 times because his awful break up with De La Hoya in 2020 that ended a 10-year collaboration. The end came when Alvarez submitted a suit against De La Hoya declaring breach of agreement. Wednesday was the very first time they shared a phase throughout a fight week because November 2019.

“His finest fight for Munguia and he attempted to take all the attention from him,” Alvarez, 33, informed ESPN. “It’s unfortunate for his part. … I’m so distressed to come Saturday night and simply win in a trendy method.

” … I do not feel unfortunate about it originating from him. I do not feel anything. … I anticipate it. He’s an a–hole. … I put my legal representatives into the scenario and he attempted to take cash from me and … he attempted to take cash from Golovkin.”

De La Hoya informed ESPN later on that day that he’s “certainly going to take legal action against [Alvarez] for disparagement.”

“I’m going to protect myself when someone’s speaking unfavorable about me which’s what I did,” he stated. “This was my best minute to let him understand how I feel. It felt so excellent. Finally — I was simply holding my tongue for all these years — and lastly I can f—ing inform him in his face, put some f—ing regard on my name.”