To say that boxing promoter Oscar De La Hoya has had a rocky relationship with Dana White would be an understatement.
The boxing Hall of Famer has traded numerous verbal jabs with the UFC President over the years. During the debut MMA show for Golden Boy Promotions, De La Hoya bashed White over the issue of fighter pay. The former multi-division title holder held what would turn out to be the first and only MMA event under the promotion right in conflict with UFC Fight Night 141 in November 2018.
Oscar De La Hoya “would love” to work with Dana White
White has been a vocal adversary of De La Hoya and would not miss an opportunity to roast the 49-year-old American promoter. He had some choice words for De La Hoya during the build-up to UFC 266. White even begged Vitor Belfort to brutally knock out De La Hoya when the pair were matched up for an exhibition bout.
In a recent appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Oscar De La Hoya expressed a desire to heal his relationship with Dana White.
“Dana criticized me and all that, for a good reason, it’s for a good reason. There were some exchanges going back and forth, me and Dana, which I apologized to him a 1,000 percent. I think that there’s still a lot of business to be done between me and Dana in the future”
After all the bitterness between the two, there’s nothing more that ‘The Golden Boy’ would want than to put an end to the heated rivalry.
“If he ever wants to talk and sit down, imagine merging our two powerhouses together and creating something together. It would be pretty unique”
“Absolutely, I would love to work with him. I’m actually building a house in Las Vegas, I’m going to move there full time to focus more on my business, and other businesses I have as well but yeah, it would be a lot of fun, interesting to build something together. Boxing is a very fragmented sport and what the Fertitta brothers did and Dana did with the UFC is incredible”
“Yeah, I’m extending an olive branch and I would love to sit down and talk and smooth things out. Let bygones be bygones and then focus on business.”
‘The Golden Boy’ blames Eddie Hearn for Canelo’s loss to Bivol
Canelo Alvarez entered the big leagues of boxing under De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. Although their partnership was mutually beneficial for both parties initially, Canelo moved on and left the banner.
When asked if he would’ve made the fight between Canelo and Dmitry Bivol if he was still his promoter, De La Hoya said that it was not a smart decision by the renowned British promoter Eddie Hearn.
“No, never, never. It was a lose-lose situation for everyone. Nobody knew Bivol whatsoever. I would’ve promoted Bivol to get a bigger name because nobody knew who he was before he fought Canelo. He was irrelevant, he was nobody”
“Canelo has a promoter (Eddie Hearn) now that obviously doesn’t come from a boxing world. He doesn’t really know “the fight game”. He got Canelo beat, it was the wrong style. Las Vegas had no buzz whatsoever”
“Canelo is the superstar of the game right now. Eddie Hearn didn’t do no justice to Canelo when he faced him against Bivol”
“He’s doing a lot of fights that mean nothing, especially here in the US. He might be a good promoter in the UK and he’s building European fighters but it means nothing here in the US.”
De La Hoya recommended Hearn stay in his lane and focus on Europe while he handles the US market. Considering how Dana White has been looking to venture into boxing, a partnership with De La Hoya may not be the worst thing in the world but would certainly be a shocker given the intense strife between the two.
