Richard Schaefer stepped down as CEO of Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions on Monday in a move that quickly rippled through the boxing world.
Schaefer and De la Hoya had been at odds over the direction of the company, although De la Hoya said at a May 3 news conference in Las Vegas that he wanted Schaefer to stay.
However, Schaefer, a Swiss national who left banking to join De la Hoya’s fledgling promotional company more than 10 years ago, said he felt compelled to leave.
Photo: AFP
“This decision has required a great deal of personal reflection, but ultimately I concluded that I have no choice but to leave,” Schaefer said in a statement. “I am proud to remain a shareholder, so I have a strong interest in the continued success of the company.”
The news came just days before Olympic gold medalist-turned-multiple-title-pro-fighter De la Hoya’s scheduled induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York, on Sunday.
Tension between De la Hoya and Schaefer was reported to stem from the ex-fighter’s decision to reach out to rival promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank.
Photo: AFP
They have not promoted together in years, a situation that scuppered a series of potentially huge, very lucrative fights.
However, any hope that Schaefer’s departure might boost the chance of a fight between unbeaten American Floyd Mayweather Jr and Philippine ring icon Manny Pacquiao was quickly dashed by a report on ESPN.com that Mayweather was cutting ties with Golden Boy.
Mayweather, who has his own promotional company, has worked with Golden Boy 2007, but has a close relationship with Schaefer, rather than De la Hoya.
Mayweather Promotions chief executive Leonard Ellerbe told ESPN.com on Monday that Mayweather would “absolutely not” work with Golden Boy without Schaefer.
So any thaw between De la Hoya and Arum will not include Mayweather. Pacquiao this month extended his promotional deal with Top Rank, and Mayweather has vowed never to fight him as long as Pacquiao is promoted by Arum.
In other boxing news, Jean-Marc Mormeck, the two-time former WBC and WBA cruiserweight champion, on Tuesday announced that he will return to the ring after an absence of more than two years when he takes on Hungary’s Tamas Lodi this month.
Mormeck has not fought since being stopped in the fourth round by Wladimir Klitschko in a WBO-IBF-WBA heavyweight title fight in March 2012 in Duesseldorf, Germany.
Speaking on the day of his 42nd birthday, Mormeck said the cruiserweight bout in Asnieres near Paris on June 26 will be his last if he loses.
“I am setting myself one last challenge. The objective is to contest my 10th and last world championship this year,” he said. “I know this is my last chance to win a belt. If I lose, I will say goodbye to the ring.”
Lodi, who has won 13 of his 16 fights to date, including two KOs, was beaten on points by Albania’s Nuri Seferi in his last bout for the WBO European cruiserweight title in Hamburg, Germany, in May.
Mormeck, who is from Guadeloupe, won the WBA cruiserweight titles in 2002 and 2005 and the WBA-WBC crowns in 2005 and 2007.
He was set to meet Poland’s Krzysztof Wlodarczyk in a cruiserweight bout in May last year, only to pull out with a shoulder injury suffered while training.
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