Oscar De La Hoya used a Monday look on The Ariel Helwani Present to go after Zuffa Boxing on a number of fronts, accusing the promotion of intentionally maintaining him off the stage on the Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn press convention, warning fighters concerning the contracts they’re signing, and declaring that his line to Turki Alalshikh has gone lifeless.
“There’s zero communication,” De La Hoya stated of Alalshikh. “The underside line is that Turki picked Dana White to run boxing within the US, that’s his man.”
The Golden Boy Promotions founder was noticeably absent from the July 18 press convention in New York, the place White stood between Garcia and Benn as the 2 have been pulled aside on stage. De La Hoya, who has promoted Garcia for the fighter’s whole skilled profession, advised Helwani the omission was intentional.
“How f***ing petty are these guys, to not embrace me and ensure I’m not on stage? Are they afraid that I’m gonna sock Dana within the nostril?” De La Hoya stated. “In fact, I’m gonna be there. In fact, I’m gonna be selling it. Everyone is aware of Ryan Garcia is my fighter. I actually do consider they’re making an attempt to maintain me away from Dana as a result of they know what’s gonna occur.”
Requested about sharing a stage with White throughout battle week in Las Vegas, De La Hoya didn’t hesitate. “Entrance and middle, I shall be there. I can not wait,” he stated.
Garcia defends his WBC welterweight title towards Benn on September 12 at T-Cell Area, a co-promotion between Golden Boy and Zuffa Boxing that grew to become official earlier this month after two months of contentious negotiations. The buildup has been sophisticated on the Golden Boy facet as properly. De La Hoya stated on Instagram earlier in July that followers weren’t asking for the Benn battle and that he would have most popular a Devin Haney rematch, feedback that drew a public response from Garcia on final week’s Helwani present. “I simply desire a structured workforce that’s behind me,” Garcia stated, per Uncrowned.
De La Hoya additionally aimed toward Zuffa’s recruiting push, which has introduced near 100 fighters below contract, most just lately four-division champion Shakur Stevenson in a signing the promotion rolled out throughout ESPN and Ring Journal.
“[Zuffa Boxing] is providing these guys some huge cash, however long run, they’re going to alter the contracts. They’re going to lure you in similar to the Malicious program, and so they’re going to f*** you. That’s the underside line,” De La Hoya stated. “That’s precisely what occurred with Shakur Stevenson.”
He prolonged the critique to White himself and to the company construction behind the promotion, which operates below publicly traded TKO Group Holdings in partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Sela.
“[Dana White] has no clue what he’s doing. He has no clue which fighters are below Zuffa. Each fighter is a quantity to this group as a result of, whenever you’re below a publicly traded firm, it’s all concerning the backside line. That’s precisely what I can see sooner or later,” De La Hoya stated. “These guys are simply utilizing all these fighters for his or her profit. That’s company America.”
The feedback about Alalshikh carry their very own historical past. Golden Boy staged occasions below the Riyadh Season banner as just lately as Might 2025, when Garcia headlined in Occasions Sq., earlier than the promoter aligned with Prime Rank, Matchroom and Queensberry in a brand new spherical of multi-year DAZN offers as Zuffa’s rivals consolidated on the platform. In his earlier look on Helwani’s present in March, De La Hoya criticized the TKO-backed Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act and stated he regretted promoting Ring Journal to Alalshikh.
