Joshua is best in heavyweight division, says De La Hoya

Oscar De La Hoya shared his views on a number of topics at the top of the boxing and MMA agenda. The Golden Boy Promotions chief spoke about the possible trilogy fight between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez, which is expected to take place on May 4 next year.

He told First Take on ESPN: “I think the difference is going to be that somebody is getting knocked out. They know each other’s style now. With GGG, the first fight people say he came forward, he won the fight because he was aggressive. 

‘So I tell Canelo that he has to go out there and bully the bully. If a third one happens, there is no room for a decision or anything like that, I think you have to knock your guy out to win.’

And when questioned on his views about the heavyweight division, De La Hoya insists Anthony Joshua is still top of the pile despite Tyson Fury’s draw with Deontay Wilder capturing the public’s attention.  

“I think Joshua is the best in the heavyweight division. After watching Wilder and Fury, I have mad respect for them. “These guys were throwing bombs, I mean come on, Fury goes down, the referee is counting him out and all of a sudden you see this Undertaker get up. The gatekeeper there in that division is Anthony Joshua.”

The former world champion also addressed his very public war of words with UFC president Dana White, who recently called him a ‘coke head’.“First of all, what I said, not about him personally, just about the business, is that fighters come up to me and say “we don’t get paid enough, UFC just sold for four billion dollars and we’re struggling”.