MMA News: Oscar De La Hoya severely criticizes Floyd Mayweather's MMA flirtation
What's the story?
Oscar De La Hoya is far from Floyd 'Money' Mayweather's biggest fan. If someone was not already clear about that, it's obvious from taking a small glance at the Golden Boy Promotions chief's social media feed.
In the most recent criticism of his former rival, De La Hoya talked about Floyd Mayweather's flirtation with fighting in MMA. He accused the undefeated boxer, saying that it had all been nothing more than a stunt.
Thanks to MMA Junkie for the heads up.
In case you didn't know...
Floyd Mayweather has been anything except silent about possible fights in Mixed Martial Arts. After he took on Conor McGregor in a boxing fight, he teased coming to MMA for a rematch against him.
Since then he has teased a two-fight series against UFC Lightweight Champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov. He has also teased a fight with Tenshin Nasukawa in Japanese MMA promotion Rizin FF. He backed out of the fight with Tenshin, which according to him he never agreed to.
The heart of the matter
The most recent flirtation with MMA surrounding his Rizin bout against Tenshin Nasukawa is what provoked De La Hoya's most recent comments.
“I think he just wants attention. That’s all it is, and Floyd is a fighter who should just stick to boxing.” (Via MMA Junkie)
De La Hoya was quite clear about his thoughts of Mayweather getting an MMA fight. He scoffed at Mayweather's idea of 'special rules' bouts which have no grappling or kicks, saying those were basically boxing fights and that Mayweather should simply stick to those.
He even went so far as to say that if Khabib fought Mayweather in an actual Mixed Martial Arts bout, that fight would be over in 30 seconds.
He emphasised that Floyd Mayweather's own self-interest helped him even during his fight with Conor McGregor.
“When he fought Conor McGregor, the reason why I was hugely against it is because it was unfair to Conor. It was totally unfair to Conor McGregor. I mean, Conor is not a boxer. He’s not a boxer fighting 12 rounds, and it was totally unfair, but these are the things that Floyd does to his advantage.”
The fact remains that De La Hoya has gone out of his way to make sure his feelings about Mayweather's MMA forays and has said that he is not good for boxing.
An example of De La Hoya's thoughts regarding Mayweather can be seen below.
What's next?
Oscar De La Hoya has been clear about his thoughts regarding Floyd Mayweather. But now his focus is on the coming fight for his Golden Boy Promotions between Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. He said the fight and its reception will determine if Golden Boy will stay in MMA or not.