Former six-division boxing world champion Oscar De La Hoya recently sung the praises of UFC President Dana White, mostly in regards to the UFC’s new television deal with Fox.
Scott Christ of Bad Left Hook transcribed the entire interview from FightHubTV.com, with Bloody Elbow’s Brent Brookhouse providing the MMA-relevant portions.
“The Golden Boy” pulled no punches when showing his love for the direction the UFC is heading in.
“First of all, I congratulate Dana White for doing an amazing job. My utmost respect to Dana White, I believe he’s a brilliant guy, he’s a tremendous person to have in a combat sport. I think they did an outstanding job in promoting the UFC, and look at where it’s at now.”
Despite De La Hoya’s enthusiasm for the UFC, he still showed some strong support for the sport of boxing.
“They struck a deal with Fox, which is amazing for the UFC, for MMA, my hat’s off to him. Boxing will be back on network television, I can feel very confident in saying that. Sooner than later, it will be back on network television.”
While the general consensus seems to be that boxing is a dying sport, De La Hoya explained why he still has faith.
“When you put good fighters together, people want to watch. And when you have any type of network behind boxing, you will create ratings. And it’s a matter of when, and we’re working that—with Golden Boy Promotions, we’re working on taking those next steps.”
De La Hoya also sung the praises of the Fertitta brothers, along with White.
“He’s been doing tremendous deals and this goes to show you that Dana White and the Fertitta brothers are brilliant. They know what they’re doing, and they’ve obviously taken it to the next step, to the next level. And who knows where the MMA’s gonna go? Sky’s the limit.”
For those not familiar, Frank Fertitta III is the younger brother of Lorenzo Fertitta, and is an owner of Zuffa LLC.
Just in case it wasn’t clear yet, De La Hoya said he’s a fan and supporter of White’s all the way, particularly because it can only help boxing in the long run.
“What Dana White has done has been amazing, outstanding. I salute him, and keep on doing a great job. And Dana White has done an amazing job. What that can do for boxing is just open doors, because it’s a combat sport. And I salute him.
“I believe he’s doing some big things. More power to him.”
De La Hoya hasn’t fought since suffering a round eight TKO against Manny Pacquiao back in December of 2008.
Meanwhile, the UFC on Fox series makes its debut on November 12. So far, the event has two blockbuster fights in Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos for the heavyweight title, and Clay Guida vs. Ben Henderson in a title eliminator fight at 155 pounds.
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