UK boxing promoter Eddie Hearn just compared his feud with boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya to Eminem’s iconic song “Stan”, where an obsessed fan becomes dangerously fixated.
Hearn and De La Hoya have a history, and things got heated again after Ryan Garcia’s win over Devin Haney. Despite being seemingly amicable in person, their rivalry exploded online. De La Hoya, head honcho at Golden Boy Promotions, isn’t thrilled that Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing is making waves in the US market. De La Hoya threw shade at Hearn on social media, suggesting he stick to promoting in the UK. Hearn fired back, boasting about his global reach and an impressive roster of 18 world champions (compared to De La Hoya’s 4).
Hearn claims De La Hoya can’t stop talking about him, comparing it to the obsessive behaviour of Stan in the song. He said during an appearance on talkSPORT Fight Night:
[De La Hoya ] is a strange fella. We’ve had various encounters face-to-face but he seems just to be trolling online. Not just my posts but any other posts that have pictures of me. He just goes off on one. And he won in that Garcia v Haney, god knows what would have happened if he had lost. It is quite flattering, I was listening to the song “Stan” by Eminem, and it made me think of Oscar a little bit. I hope that when I get into the office on Monday that there is no letter on the desk. Our thoughts are with him.
What an interesting parallel! In hip hop, rappers traditionally settle a beef with verbal sparring matches – diss tracks, but sometimes challenge each other to a fistfight (even if these calls are almost never answered). Here, in the boxing world, promoter Eddie Hearn throws a lyrical jab by referencing Eminem’s “Stan,” aiming to gain the upper hand in his feud with De La Hoya. It’s a fascinating twist on how competition plays out in different arenas.
