The boxing greats have been embroiled in a war of pettiness on their very public Instagram galleries, and the smoke is very real.
Instagram is keeping boxing great again, at least where Floyd “Money” Mayweather and “The Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya are concerned. The two have been embroiled in a war of pettiness on their very public Instagram galleries and the smoke is very real.
Unlike Twitter, Instagram is a social media platform where the aesthetics of your gallery page are everything. From having great photography to choice content and positioning, Instagram is a culture that actually stands as the the new business card for creatives and influencers.
So when Mayweather, who has 22.1 million followers and De La Hoya, who has 858,000 followers, post past interviews and dehumanizing images of each other, it is very publicly for keeps.
When Mayweather fought De La Hoya in 2007, it set the pay-per-view record at that time with 2.48 million buys. That record has since been smashed by Mayweather two times over with his fights against McGregor (4.3 million) and his all-time best against Pacquiao (4.6 million) in 2015.
De La Hoya’s last fight was a loss against Pacquiao in 2008 which ended his career with 39 wins and 6 losses, while Mayweather careened to a smooth 50-0 en route to becoming the richest boxer in history.
Both Mayweather and De La Hoya had successful careers with Bob Arum and Top Rank, however it was Mayweather that knew he was better as “the heel” in boxing and emancipated himself from his contract at the tune of $750,000. It was the move that catapulted him to uber financial success and part of it was on De La Hoya’s back.
De La Hoya started the war of slander when he began making inroads towards Mayweather protege Gervonta “Tank” Davis on Twitter. De La Hoya has been watching the relationship between “Money” and Davis tank, pun intended, as Davis climbs the tumultuous ladder of boxing success. From hanging out with Mayweather frenemy Adrien Broner to actually outing his negative conversations with his boss, De La Hoya felt like the iron was hot enough to strike and make a play towards the young champion.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpFc3tJAkFh/
Since then, the two have been on an all out blitzkrieg against each other, slinging so much mud they have made their Instagram handles a virtual pig pen. Right after Mayweather took a hiatus from his most recent disrespectful internet barrage against Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, he set his sights on De La Hoya, reminding the world of his infamous cross dressing pictures.
This convicted criminal is horrible for boxing ? #floydthefelon @floydmayweather
45.3k Likes, 4,164 Comments – Oscar De La Hoya (@oscardelahoya) on Instagram: “This convicted criminal is horrible for boxing ? #floydthefelon @floydmayweather”
De La Hoya then upped the ante by posting Floyd’s handcuffed images leaving a Nevada courtroom after being convicted of domestic violence charges.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpvKgjPBzpr/
Mayweather then stooped lower by showing a televised interview with the “Golden Boy” where he reveals his addictions to alcohol and cocaine and his penchant to cheat on his wife.
There’s no crying in boxing ? #Floydthefelon #badforboxing
25.5k Likes, 1,733 Comments – Oscar De La Hoya (@oscardelahoya) on Instagram: “There’s no crying in boxing ? #Floydthefelon #badforboxing”
The De La Hoya response: Mayweather cry face meme with the simple caption of “there’s no crying in boxing. #FloydTheFelon”.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpz_RmyBCD3/
No one is sure how long this will last, but with both Mayweather and De La Hoya in control of their own destinies as promoters, this can only mean more attention to both Mayweather’s return to action in Tokyo and Golden Boy’s new deal with DAZN.
