De La Hoya responds to Dana White’s criticism

Oscar De La Hoya appeared on ESPN yesterday where he was asked to respond to Dana White’s harsh criticism of him for his open letter, urging fans to boycott a potential Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor fight — much to the chagrin of White.

"My response is, I have to take the high road," De La Hoya said Monday during an interview with ESPN's SportsCenter. "Obviously, he says my fight sucks, I say the same thing. That fight is going to suck. It really is."

De La Hoya isn’t really wrong that the prospective boxing match is mostly a comical farce that wouldn’t be competitive between the ropes, but the real irony is that just a few months ago De La Hoya openly pitched the idea that his fighter, Canelo Alvarez, be the one to fight Conor McGregor in a boxing match.

That pitch didn’t gain any traction, though, and now De La Hoya is adamant about defending boxing’s honor, going on many interviews to suggest that while he’s trying to save boxing by making Canelo-Golovkin, Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor are trying to ruin the sport — especially with McGregor attempting a feat that even he could attain.

"McGregor is not a boxer and he's going up against the best boxer on the planet, in our generation, against Mayweather? And he's 0-0 and he thinks he's going to beat him? It's impossible. I couldn't beat him," De La Hoya said.

Mayweather-McGregor hasn’t been made official yet, but all signs indicate that it’s a safe bet to happen in the near future, with some outlets even estimating that the event will generate nearly as much money as Mayweather-Pacquiao.