After recent chatter that former Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer and the “Golden Boy” himself, Oscar Del La Hoya, were at odds over the past few months it was inevitable that Schaefer would eventually abandon ship and that occurred Monday.
“After more than 10 years with Golden Boy, it is time to move on to the next chapter of my career,” Schaefer said in a statement. “This decision has required a great deal of personal reflection, but ultimately I concluded that I have no choice but to leave. I have succeeded in banking and I have succeeded in boxing, and I look forward to the next opportunity.”
Schaefer quit Golden Boy after being with the company since its inception in 2002, in a move that will alter business in boxing which was made evident just a few hours later.
Pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather announced (via ESPN.com) that he would no longer work with Golden Boy Promotions after working with them since 2009.
This means Mayweather’s upcoming September bout will not include Golden Boy, and according to Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe, they will never work with them again.
Ellerbe told ESPN.com that Mayweather Promotions will handle Mayweather’s bouts from here on out and said that they are prepared to do so.
“Mayweather Promotions will continue to promote Floyd’s fights and Floyd will continue to put on the biggest fights in boxing. I have a tremendous team and staff and we continue to expand year by year and we’re ready to go.”
Now that boxing’s biggest cash cow had severed ties with Golden Boy they will lose out on multiple millions of dollars. There is no one bigger in the sport than Mayweather and Golden Boy will feel his loss more than Schaefer’s in the end.
It will be interesting to see what Schaefer decides to do now that he is free to do what he pleases and linking up with Mayweather Promotions wouldn’t be a surprising move if it were to occur down the line.
