We almost saw a boxing match between former UFC champion Georges St-Pierre and former boxing world champion Oscar De La Hoya, but UFC president Dana White prevented it from happening.
Say what you will about White and how everything played out, a boxing match between GSP and “Golden Boy” would have been, well, golden. Some may think the matchup is a risky venture for St-Pierre, who is widely considered one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time, but it would have been a great opportunity for the retired UFC fighter to earn a massive payday and test his skills against a legend like De La Hoya.
While the matchup has fallen between the combat cracks never to see the light of day again it’s still worth talking about, especially as new details emerge.
Earlier this week, St-Pierre sat down with MMA Joe (via BoxingScene) to discuss his missed opportunity to fight De La Hoya. GSP also revealed the proposed ruleset for the boxing match and a few details about a percentage of his fight purse going to charity.
“The problem with UFC, it’s a really serious sport that you can be really badly damaged. In boxing there are ways of tweaking it,” said St-Pierre. “For example, I was offered to have a fight with Oscar De La Hoya, but the rules were different because we were both retired.”
“It would’ve been bigger gloves, two-minute rounds, eight rounds. So the terms were different to accommodate, to make it more like a show,” St-Pierre continued. “It’s less dangerous. Part of the profit, part of our purses would have been given to a charity. Unfortunately, it did not happen, but it would have been fun. It’s a different form of entertainment, and with boxing you can tweak it like this — you can change the gloves — in MMA you can’t really do that.”
Most of us are still surprised that White was so quick to put a stop to this boxing match, especially since GSP shows no signs of returning to the Octagon, but it’s proof that the UFC president really doesn’t get along with De La Hoya. White may have a few different reasons why he didn’t approve of the fight, but he likely didn’t want to do business with “Golden Boy” even if it came at the expense of a massive payday for GSP.
For now, St-Pierre will stay retired and De La Hoya will have to find another dance partner for his anticipated return to the boxing ring later this year.