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Dana White Sounds Off on Boxing, De La Hoya
By Mark Vester
In a recent conference call with the media, UFC president Dana White discussed the sport of boxing, the Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. pay-per-view and several boxers who want to enter the UFC.
As noted in the Orange County Register, White said that he does not have any interest in fighters like Kermit Cintron or Tommy Morrison, entering the UFC. On the other hand, the offer is still open to Floyd Mayweather, Jr. to step foot in the octagon.
"I'm not really interested in that (Cintron and Morrison). Floyd Mayweather is probably the greatest boxer ever. You might think what you want to think about his personality and he might not always put on exciting fights but there is no doubt that he is the most talented guy, probably in history. A challenge by somebody like that means something. Every guy that boxes and wants to put out a challenge doesn't really mean anything to me," White said.
White then went pretty deep as to why the sport of boxing is on the decline and put the blame on promoters Don King and Bob Arum of Top Rank. He also said that Oscar De La Hoya's main motivation in the Mayweather fight was money, and that's why the pay-per-view had a poor undercard. He saw the makeup of the card as a big mistake that many boxing promoters follow like a formula. That being one feature showcase with meaningless undercard fights. He blamed most of boxing's problems on greed. The greed of most individuals involved with sport, but namely the promoters.
"Pretty much every UFC fight is damn exciting. The difference is we showcase nine fights that night, not just one. Let me tell everybody on this call something and go off on a rant for a second. I always talk about how much trouble boxing is in. Boxing is in trouble for one reason, and one reason only ... Greed. They are all greedy," White said. "Everybody in it is greedy. Bob Arum and Don King have absolutely destroyed that sport, stuck their hands in there, ripped the life out of it and stuck it in their pockets. OK, and Bob Arum can call me 500 (more) times tomorrow and I'll say the same thing. That's the reason boxing is in trouble. Oscar De La Hoya had the opportunity. I'm sure a lot of people thought Floyd Mayweather was going to beat Oscar De La Hoya. There were people wishing and hoping Oscar De La Hoya would win, but reality tells you Floyd is going to win this fight.
"Now, Bob Arum and Don King weren't promoters of this event, Oscar De La Hoya was and, apparently, his career after boxing is going to be a fight promoter. Now, he has Winky Wright, Shane Mosley, Bernard Hopkins and a bunch of other talented guys that he has fighting under his promotion. We got a lot of press the week of the De La Hoya fight because everybody was saying this could this be the fight that saves boxing. Hell no, it couldn't be the fight that saves boxing because Oscar did the same thing that Bob and Don did. All he wanted to do was shove the money in his pocket. He should have stacked the card with Shane Mosley, Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright on the undercard. The promotion for that fight should have been, 'Boxing's not dead. Golden Boy Promotions is going to bring it back and we're going to go head-to-head with the UFC. We've stacked this card and put all these guys on the card.' But they won't do it because they are too (darn) greedy.
"It's never going to change and it's never going to end. They could have built storylines underneath with all these fights, and let's say half the people came back for the next fight. They just did 2 million buys. Maybe, they could have done 1 million or half a million or 750,000 with these other fights. This is what I'm talking about, about these boxing guys. They don't think about the future. It's how much money can I make right here, right now. Anyway, sorry guys."
http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=8806
By Mark Vester
In a recent conference call with the media, UFC president Dana White discussed the sport of boxing, the Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. pay-per-view and several boxers who want to enter the UFC.
As noted in the Orange County Register, White said that he does not have any interest in fighters like Kermit Cintron or Tommy Morrison, entering the UFC. On the other hand, the offer is still open to Floyd Mayweather, Jr. to step foot in the octagon.
"I'm not really interested in that (Cintron and Morrison). Floyd Mayweather is probably the greatest boxer ever. You might think what you want to think about his personality and he might not always put on exciting fights but there is no doubt that he is the most talented guy, probably in history. A challenge by somebody like that means something. Every guy that boxes and wants to put out a challenge doesn't really mean anything to me," White said.
White then went pretty deep as to why the sport of boxing is on the decline and put the blame on promoters Don King and Bob Arum of Top Rank. He also said that Oscar De La Hoya's main motivation in the Mayweather fight was money, and that's why the pay-per-view had a poor undercard. He saw the makeup of the card as a big mistake that many boxing promoters follow like a formula. That being one feature showcase with meaningless undercard fights. He blamed most of boxing's problems on greed. The greed of most individuals involved with sport, but namely the promoters.
"Pretty much every UFC fight is damn exciting. The difference is we showcase nine fights that night, not just one. Let me tell everybody on this call something and go off on a rant for a second. I always talk about how much trouble boxing is in. Boxing is in trouble for one reason, and one reason only ... Greed. They are all greedy," White said. "Everybody in it is greedy. Bob Arum and Don King have absolutely destroyed that sport, stuck their hands in there, ripped the life out of it and stuck it in their pockets. OK, and Bob Arum can call me 500 (more) times tomorrow and I'll say the same thing. That's the reason boxing is in trouble. Oscar De La Hoya had the opportunity. I'm sure a lot of people thought Floyd Mayweather was going to beat Oscar De La Hoya. There were people wishing and hoping Oscar De La Hoya would win, but reality tells you Floyd is going to win this fight.
"Now, Bob Arum and Don King weren't promoters of this event, Oscar De La Hoya was and, apparently, his career after boxing is going to be a fight promoter. Now, he has Winky Wright, Shane Mosley, Bernard Hopkins and a bunch of other talented guys that he has fighting under his promotion. We got a lot of press the week of the De La Hoya fight because everybody was saying this could this be the fight that saves boxing. Hell no, it couldn't be the fight that saves boxing because Oscar did the same thing that Bob and Don did. All he wanted to do was shove the money in his pocket. He should have stacked the card with Shane Mosley, Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright on the undercard. The promotion for that fight should have been, 'Boxing's not dead. Golden Boy Promotions is going to bring it back and we're going to go head-to-head with the UFC. We've stacked this card and put all these guys on the card.' But they won't do it because they are too (darn) greedy.
"It's never going to change and it's never going to end. They could have built storylines underneath with all these fights, and let's say half the people came back for the next fight. They just did 2 million buys. Maybe, they could have done 1 million or half a million or 750,000 with these other fights. This is what I'm talking about, about these boxing guys. They don't think about the future. It's how much money can I make right here, right now. Anyway, sorry guys."
http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=8806