Oscar De La Hoya will not be attending the undefeated junior middleweight titleholders Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight this weekend because he has checked himself into an unnamed treatment facility for substance abuse. The president of powerhouse boxing promotion company Golden Boy Promotions and a former 10-time world title winner announced Tuesday via press release:
“Canelo Alvarez and I have big fights coming up this weekend. His is the ring and mine in treatment. I will not be at the fight to cheer Canelo to victory since I have voluntarily admitted myself into a treatment facility,” stated De La Hoya.
“I explained this to Canelo, and he understood that my health and long-term recovery from my disease must come first. Thank you for your understanding. I ask for your support and privacy during this difficult time for me and my family.”
Mayweather who has been feuding with De La Hoya after he chose Alvarez to knock him out, defeated De La Hoya in 2007 in a close fight, which ended up being the biggest pay-per-view seller of all time at 2.4 million buys.
De La Hoya completed a stint in rehab two years ago for cocaine and alcohol abuse. He told the Los Angeles Times last month that he sometimes attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings six days a week, sometimes twice a day but had slipped at times in his treatment.
This is not the first major fight that De La Hoya has missed because of drug and alcohol problems. According to ESPN.com, he also skipped Bernard Hopkins’ historic win against Jean Pascal in May 2011 in Montreal in which he became the oldest fighter in boxing history to win a world title.
De La Hoya has won world titles in six classes and an Olympic gold medal in 1992. In December 2008 he retired after losing against Manny Pacquiao in his last fight.
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