Something's up. Powerful boxing manager/adviser Al Haymon (above) is on a signing spree. At the same time, Golden Boy Promotions' Richard Schaefer and Oscar De La Hoya aren't talking about rumors of friction between the two men.
Let's do some math.
Here's a list of 65 fighters who A. could be considered active; B. are confirmed as signed with Haymon; C. or confirmed as being in talks with Haymon; or D. have been reported as being Haymon fighters. They're listed in approximate order of division. We'll talk about what it might mean afterward. One of them, Demetrius Andrade, probably isn't with Haymon, but was reported as that in a story in 2012. Three of them — Robert Guerrero, Alfredo Angulo and Amir Khan — have been reported as in talks, with no conclusion. That Andrade is unlikely is the reason for the headline.
The reports about Khan, Angulo and Guerrero are recent. Barthelemy is a recent confirmed signing. So are the Peterson brothers. And Luis Collazo. Some of the recent signings are not aligned with Golden Boy.
There have been no stories, but various unsourced remarks on Twitter, about a dispute between De La Hoya and Schaefer over the company. The unsourced remarks very well could be true, of course, and the reaction so far points in that direction more than it doesn't. That Schaefer wouldn't discuss the "rumors" is a bad sign — if things were kosher between Schaefer and De La Hoya, why not say so? De La Hoya also recently said on Twitter that he would soon address the rumors. He has not. Showtime's Stephen Espinoza is either playing dumb or is out of the loop or his comments reflect the reality that there's nothing to see here. Notably, the two GBP bosses have diverged on their approaches to rival promoter Top Rank, with De La Hoya making overtures to Bob Arum and Schaefer dug in about not dealing with either. So it's fair to say there's smoke.
That leads to the theory that there is about to be a split, with Schaefer and Haymon (the adviser of Mayweather, who is close with Schaefer and dislikes Oscar) siding up against De La Hoya. Some — most? all? — Haymon clients do not ever sign formal contracts with their promoters. It's not a reach to wonder whether the signing spree is the prelude to something bigger happening. And for one of the two biggest promoters in the sport to be headed toward some major shake-up, with the biggest star in the sport and its most powerful manager also involved, would be a big story indeed.
But most of this exists in the sphere of speculation. If more than a handful of reporters are looking into it, there's no evidence that they are. And to give the big outlets a little leeway, It would be hard for anybody to get to the bottom of it, given Haymon's secrecy and the non-comments from the other biggest players. But given the potential enormity of the story, you'd think we'd see more out there than there is, one way or the other.
Right now, the math goes: ~64 + x = y
