-
Steve KimESPN
After some back-and-forth jabs in the past, the war of words between UFC superstar Conor McGregor and boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya is really heating up. The latest escalation happened when De La Hoya gave a sharp response when asked about how he’d fare with McGregor in a fight.
”Oh, come on, brother (I’d knock McGregor out in ) two rounds,” De La Hoya said on CBS Sports’ ‘State of Combat’ podcast, posted on Thursday. “Because one thing about me, I went for the kill always.”
The response from McGregor on Twitter was short and to the point.
I accept your challenge, Oscar de la Hoya.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) May 7, 2020
Perhaps De La Hoya was just asking a question that was posed to him. But there was no secret of his disdain for the highly publicized and lucrative Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor showdown in 2017, which was not-so-coincidentally scheduled just a few weeks before his company staged the first encounter between Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin. Not only did De La Hoya believe it was an insult to ‘real’ boxing, but it may have also cut into his own business. Perhaps, ‘the Golden Boy’ is just a hard-boiled boxing purist, or maybe there is lingering bitterness from the past.
But there was no denying the box-office success of that promotion, which was panned critically, but was a financial blockbuster for everyone involved.
McGregor’s bout against Mayweather procured over four million pay-per-view buys and generated more than $600 in revenue. Mayweather scored a 10th round stoppage of McGregor in the sanctioned boxing match at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The 31-year-old McGregor last appeared in the more familiar settings of an octagon on January 18, stopping Donald Cerrone in the first round in a UFC event.
As for De La Hoya, who captured major world titles all the way from junior lightweight to middleweight, he has not seen live action since he was soundly defeated by Manny Pacquiao in eight rounds in December of 2008. What was thought to be a favorable match-up for De La Hoya, was instead an unfortunate end to what was a memorable career. De La Hoya ended up quitting on the stool that night, and soon after announced his retirement from the ring.
He finished his career with a mark of 39-6 (30 KOs) and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2014. De La Hoya is now 47 years old.
ESPN has reached out to both McGregor and De La Hoya looking for further comment.