If Eddie Hearn and Oscar De La Hoya move their five-v-five trash talk from social media and put together this proposed mega-fight event, it will be the biggest boxing show of 2025.
It started with a few whispers and what-ifs about Matchroom having another go at its promotion-vs-promotion concept with Queensberry, but this time with De La Hoya’s Golden Boy. If it goes down, Hearn and Matchroom might be able to shift their fortunes in these new and exciting events.
Queensberry swept Matchroom in the first and only version, which took place on June 1. De La Hoya was asked about a Golden Boy vs. Matchroom event, and he seemed to agree verbally during a segment on DAZN. Hearn quickly followed up with the matchups he’d like to see between his fighters and the ones from Golden Boy.
De La Hoya used his latest Clapback Thursday segment to slightly rework the matchups, and Hearn didn’t waste time agreeing to the new fights.
This time, Hearn took the seriousness of the concept to another level by tagging Turki Alalshikh.
The Saudi power broker has succeeded in making the fights in boxing that no one else could make over the past two years.
Because Matchroom and Golden Boy have worked with Alalshikh in the past, and both have streaming deals with DAZN, the fights–or at least the concept–are very realistic.
Initially, the Jaron “Boots” Ennis vs. Ryan Garcia fight was mentioned as the potential headliner, but the latest version swaps out the polarizing and suspended slugger for Vergil Ortiz Jr. Hearn questions whether Jaime Munguia is still with Golden Boy, but if he is, the Matchroom boss says he’s ready to sign off on a fight between him and Diego Pacheco.
That fight could be a war. Both men are devastating power punchers, and because of Pacheco’s length (6-foot-4), he would be the rare opponent with the size advantage over Munguia. Shakur Stevenson vs. William Zepeda is seemingly a constant in these concepts, and the former will be heavily favored. With or without the five-v-five, it seems like a matter of when and not if for this fight.
Oscar Duarte vs. Devin Haney is a bit of a switch-up. Haney has been mentioning a fight with Jack Catterall, which both promoters have attached to a battle with the Jose Ramirez vs. Arnold Barboza winner. Either iteration would be music to the ears of boxing fans across the globe.
On paper, it seems like Matchroom has the edge in this set of matchups. Golden Boy’s best chances for victories would seemingly come with the winner of Ramirez/Barboza against Catterall and Munguia vs. Pacheco, which is more of a 50-50 fight. Because of the fights the fighters mentioned already have in place, the earliest this card could happen would be Spring 2025.
In the meantime, Boots and Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez are in action on Saturday taking on Karen Chukhadzhian and Pedro Guevara. Boots is expected to win easily in a rematch with Chukhadzhian, and it could be the perfect setup for a fight with Ortiz.
Most boxing fans will have their fingers crossed that nothing disturbs the path to what could be a memorable night of boxing.
