Oscar De La Hoya pulled from Vitor Belfort fight with COVID, could be replaced by Evander Holyfield

Oscar De La Hoya confirmed on Twitter that he’s come down with a breakthrough case of COVID, scrapping his planned September 11th comeback clash against former UFC champion Vitor Belfort. TMZ and Triller’s Ryan Kavanaugh report that cruiserweight and heavyweight great Evander Holyfield could fight in his stead, pending approval from the California State Athletic Commission.

Per TMZ, the event will move to Florida if the 58-year-old Holyfield (44-10-2, 29 KO) isn’t cleared in California. “The Real Deal” last fought in 2011, stopping Brian Nielsen, but has made multiple attempts to re-enter the ring in some capacity these last couple years.

Can’t say this is any more appealing than the original fight, which is not a terribly high bar. Holyfield’s a fair bit bigger than De La Hoya and should be around the same size as Belfort come fight night, but he’s also got way more mileage on him than “The Golden Boy.” This has the potential for a very ugly outcome.

As far as we’re aware, the card still features Anderson Silva vs. Tito Ortiz and an actually meaningful boxing match between Andy Vences and Jono Carroll.