No matter how much he may dislike him, Dana White says he would never disrespect Oscar De La Hoya at a fight he was promoting.
White and De La Hoya are long-time bitter enemies, but last month, the two had occasion to come together, promoting the highly-anticipated WBC title bout between Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn. But while the event was technically a co-promotion, White’s Zuffa Boxing took the lead, so much so that on fight night, De La Hoya opted not to attend, claiming that he was being set up
by White and company to be embarrassed, and that his people who worked the event felt disrespected.
On Tuesday night, following the latest episode of Contender Series, White spoke to reporters, where he refuted De La Hoya’s claim, saying he’s been on the receiving end of such behavior and wouldn’t do it to even his most ardent enemy.
“I would never do that,” White said. “Listen, my dislike for Oscar De La Hoya is very well known. He knows it, I know it, and it’s mutual. But I am the type of person, I would call and say, ‘Don’t even try and show up to this f*cking fight. You’re not welcome.’ I would never have somebody show up to an event and do that.
“It happened to me. Vince McMahon did it to me for Ronda’s first wrestling match. I showed up at will call — I flew to f*cking New Orleans, showed up at will call, and they said, ‘Oh, we have no tickets for you.’ I said, ‘Ah shit.’ I started making some phone calls; they end up getting me tickets, I’m in the f*cking bleachers. I’ve been through all that. I wouldn’t do that to even an enemy; I wouldn’t do that.”
Shortly after the event, reports surfaced that while De La Hoya had tickets, they were not ringside as is customary for one of the promoters of the event, but elsewhere in the crowd. White also addressed this, saying that De La Hoya was to be in the VIP section among the other celebrities in attendance.
“Oscar knew he had tickets,” White said. “Oscar knew where he was sitting. Oscar was coming in the back, like all the celebrities do, to the celebrity VIP area, and he knew all of that. I’m not saying that in his mind he didn’t think, ‘Maybe these guys are gonna do that,’ but let’s just be straight up and open about this: I would never do that to anybody.
“And there were other guys that felt that way, too. I know [Mauricio] Sulaiman felt that way from WBC, and some of these other guys. I wouldn’t do that. Listen, if I don’t like you, and I tell people straight up, we’re probably not going to — let’s not even talk to each other. I don’t like you, we’re never gonna be f*cking friends, but it doesn’t mean — like people who fight here that I don’t like can still fight here and have a good career and make a living. But I would never have anybody show up and be treated like that. I wouldn’t do it.”
As for De La Hoya’s claims about Golden Boy operatives not being treated appropriately, White had a short answer to that, referring De La Hoya to Zuffa Boxing co-owner, Turki Alalshikh.
“He should talk to Turki about that if that’s the case.”
