Pugmire and Coppinger Riff On Possible Canelo-Golden Boy Friction In First Podcast

On the latest and actually the first podcast from The Athletic’s Lance Pugmire and Mike Coppinger, the duo talked about DAZN and Canelo and the power dynamic between the OTT platform and Golden Boy Promotions, and a host of other relevant matters in the sweet science sphere.

Pugmire on “The Pug and Copp Boxing Show” said that Canelo has made things more complicated by not accepting that third GGG fight, and Coppinger said he thinks GGG maybe fights Sergey Derevyanchenko, and looks to snag a belt, the IBF version. He also mentioned GGG vs maybe Ryoto Murata, and DAZN maybe likes that, because they’d not be on the hook to pay Murata. Also, Coppinger mentioned Jaime Munguia could be in that mix.

What about Demetrius Andrade, said Pugmire? “With a major event like this, he could shine,” the Cali based writer said.

Lance said he thinks GGG going for the IBF 160 belt makes sense for him, and that a third Canelo vs GGG scrap, in May 2020, would then probably unfold.

Pugmire said that Canelo told him that 168 was as high as he could go, before the December 2018 bout versus Rocky Fielding, so he was curious about the talk of a light heavyweight tango, versus Sergey Kovalev.

Maybe the most tantalizing tidbit from the session was this: Pugmire spoke on the relations between Canelo, and Oscar De La Hoya and company.

Canelo maybe doesn’t like GGG, Pugmire and Copp discussed, and then Pugmire said that “all of these guys need to be working in sync.” But, the writer said, DAZN paid GBP to put on bouts, “to help boost its stable,” and “apparently Canelo has been irked by how much money DAZN gave Golden Boy Promotions.” He continued: At a press luncheon, which had Arnold Schwarzenegger present, he saw Oscar and Eric Gomez come into the room, after being talked to by Canelo, dressed down, essentially.

“There’s rumors that Canelo and Oscar aren’t even talking right now,” said Pugmire. “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” said Coppinger, admitting we are trafficking in rumor, more than reported and confirmed facts, on this subject. When people of such acclaim interact, and such majestic sums of money are in play, this wouldn’t be a surprise, he allowed.

Note: I mentioned this snippet to Gomez, about the luncheon where Canelo gave Oscar and Eric the business, and that the Mexican and the promoter are not on the same page right now. He laughed.

Did that happen, then? “Never,” said Gomez. “Fake news.”

So, are Oscar and Canelo getting along OK, then?

“Always,” said Gomez. “We just spent two days with Canelo, Monday and Tuesday.”

Pugmire also mentioned the DAZN subscription numbers and what internal marks they’d like to be hitting. It’s easier to hit number milestones when the mega fights, like Canelo v GGG 3, get made. Coppinger said DAZN deserves credit for not being too malleable in accepting foes.

Lots of material in the pod, and the co-hosts have an easy rapport. Here is the link to the episode.

This podcast, sponsored by Everlast, is now in its third year. Listen to “Talkbox” here.