Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya will remain the promoter of UK star Amir Khan in the wake of a settlement with former company CEO Richard Schaefer, which resulted in the promotional release of other Al Haymon-advised fighters. Photo by Naoki Fukuda

Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya has settled a lawsuit with former company CEO Richard Schaefer, who resigned after 10 years last June, and also relinquished promotional rights to a number of top boxers who are signed with adviser Al Haymon, according to a report by Yahoo Sports.

Neither De La Hoya nor Schaefer could be reached for an immediate comment. Golden Boy reportedly retained the promotional rights of such high-profile Haymon-advised fighters Amir Khan, Lucas Matthysse and Leo Santa Cruz, but lost promotional ties to other Haymon fighters, such as RING junior welterweight champion Danny Garcia and Adrien Broner.

The move could open the door for Schaefer to align himself with Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s promotional company, Mayweather Promotions, as he had become very close to the pound-for-pound king during the many years Mayweather fought under the Golden Boy banner. However, part of the settlement bars Schaefer from promoting for a period of time, though the source, which was unnamed, did not know how long that period would be.

Mayweather is the world’s highest-paid athlete as well as the top fighter in the roster of Haymon, who could soon announce an exclusive output deal worth millions of dollars with NBC Sports and which could yield around 24 fight dates for a boxing series.

“We have a lot of young fighters Oscar likes who he thinks can become Golden Boy’s next generation of stars,” the source said. “It was just so tough getting fights made under the system we were in. With this deal, we can now make the fights the fans want to see, and when these young fighters develop, we’ll be back where we were.”

On Thursday, Golden Boy announced the signing of former lightweight title challenger Mercito Gesta, of the Philippines, and entertaining Japanese welterweight slugger Yoshihiro Kamegai among several prospects to exclusive promotional contracts.

De La Hoya also has announced in a release on Friday the signing of junior welterweight Cesar Qui├▒onez, who is trained by former junior middleweight champion Fernando Vargas out of his Feroz Fight Factory gym.

Of course, Golden Boy Promotions still promotes one of the biggest stars of the sport, former junior middleweight champ Canelo Alvarez, who recently signed an exclusive deal with HBO.