De La Hoya Responds: Would He Work with Dana White?

Golden Boy Promotions founder and CEO Oscar De La Hoya has shared his thoughts on the launch of TKO Boxing—a new venture spearheaded by Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Entertainment chairman Turki Alalshikh and UFC president Dana White.

“Speaking of scumbags—everyone’s been asking me what I think about Dana White trying to break into boxing again. After gathering as much info as possible, I’m finally ready to respond.

Here’s the truth: you can’t run a boxing organization without fighters. And right now, Dana White and TKO don’t have a single boxer. That means they’re in this for the long haul, trying to build something years down the line—when fighters' contracts with current promoters expire. They’ll try to sign them then.

What else do we know? A few weeks ago, there was a leak—alleged fighter salaries under TKO. If those numbers are legit, that’s straight-up garbage. Dana’s going to face a mountain of problems. No fighter’s stepping into the ring for pennies.

Most of their prospects will fight once or twice a year and survive on minimum pay—while being thrown into dangerous matchups. Dana says the best should fight the best. That means short careers.

No pay-per-view star is fighting for $750,000. Seriously? You think guys like Canelo Álvarez or Ryan Garcia would accept that kind of pay cut? No way. And here’s the kicker: if those numbers are real, UFC fighters are going to be furious—because TKO would be paying far more. UFC fighters are already fed up with being underpaid while risking their lives.

Dana White’s tried to get into boxing before—and failed every time. Remember Zuffa Boxing? It didn’t even get off the ground. When Dana doesn’t have the money and business smarts of guys like the Fertitta brothers or Turki Alalshikh, he crashes and burns.

And as for Dana’s character—what does it say when your own mother writes a book about what a horrible person you are?

Dana White has made it clear over the years that he has no interest in working with either Oscar De La Hoya or Top Rank’s Bob Arum, both of whom he’s feuded with.

Still, De La Hoya appears more open to collaboration: 'Would I work with Dana in the future, if he’s in boxing? Absolutely. Because 80% of the people I deal with in boxing are con artists',” De La Hoya said.