Oscar De La Hoya and his former CEO reach settlement

Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions and the company’s former chief executive, Richard Schaefer, reached a settlement Friday, a source close to Golden Boy told the Los Angeles Times.

“It’s an exciting day for our company,” said a source close to Golden Boy, not authorized to speak publicly on the matter due to terms of the settlement. “We can go back to the roots of our company, back to the way of operating to give the fans the fights they want to see.”

The Golden Boy official declined to reveal any financial specifics of the deal, and a source familiar with the settlement said Schaefer will be “blocked for a period of time” from working in boxing promotion, but the official did not specify the time frame of that hiatus.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the settlement.

FOR THE RECORD: In an earlier version of this story, the source was misidentified as a spokesman for Golden Boy Promotions.

Schaefer, reached by telephone, declined to comment about the settlement.

It’s long been suspected within the industry that following De La Hoya’s split with Schaefer in April, that Schaefer would eventually work to strengthen Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s Mayweather Promotions with powerful Mayweather manager Al Haymon by his side.

The settlement has Golden Boy Promotions severing ties with several Haymon fighters who functioned on fight-by-fight deals with the company, most notably unbeaten junior-welterweight world champion Danny Garcia (29-0), former lightweight and super-featherweight world champion Adrien Broner (29-1), middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs (28-1) and former welterweight champion Marcos Maidana (35-5).

Yet, Golden Boy will continue to promote other Haymon fighters it has under existing and separate promotional contracts, including super-bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz, former junior-welterweight champion Amir Khan and junior-welterweight Lucas Matthysse.

Those fighters owe Golden Boy at least one fight, said a boxing official unauthorized to speak publicly about the settlement.

There is “an overwhelming feeling of relief” at Golden Boy, one company official said of moving past matchmaking complicated by Haymon’s agenda.

Attempts to reach Haymon were unsuccessful. He has a policy of not speaking to reporters.

Although a significant part of the Golden Boy stable no longer exists, the official said, “We’re playing a long game now of signing and developing young fighters instead of a short game of [dealing with the lawsuit] and jumping through [the Haymon] hoops.”

Golden Boy’s top fighter, super-welterweight Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, is in talks to fight middleweight champion Miguel Cotto in May, and veteran former light-heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins may also return to the ring.

Golden Boy also signed 12 young fighters on Thursday.