Dana White denies blocking De La Hoya from Garcia vs. Benn despite long-running feud

Dana White says his organisation played no part in Oscar De La Hoya’s absence from Saturday’s Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, pushing back on reports that the Golden Boy Promotions chief was denied a credential for the event.

Boxing reporter Dan Rafael had claimed De La Hoya was refused accreditation, but White, speaking at the post-fight press conference, said he had no knowledge of any such move and insisted De La Hoya was simply never expected to attend.

“I do not like De La Hoya and De La Hoya does not like me,” White said. “I would never disrespect him and say, ‘Oh, he shows up here and we treat him like shit.’ I would call him on the phone and say, ‘Hey, don’t f*cking show up to this event because we’re not going to treat you well.’ That was not the case. Why he didn’t show up, I don’t know.”

The Garcia vs. Benn card was a co-promotion between White’s Zuffa Boxing and De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, which currently holds Garcia under contract. The two promoters have maintained a public feud for years, making De La Hoya’s non-appearance one of the talking points of fight night.

Garcia himself said he had expected his promoter to be ringside and had even planned to invite him to walk out for the main event. “They told me that he had a seat and I actually invited him to walk out with me,” Garcia said. “I thought that was going to be iconic. But it is what it is. It didn’t happen.”

On the night itself, Garcia delivered a one-sided performance to retain the WBC welterweight title with a knockout win over Benn. In the co-main event, Jai Opetaia successfully defended his Zuffa cruiserweight belt against Noel Mikaelian with a ninth-round finish.

The evening was not without additional complications. Promoter Don King announced ahead of Opetaia’s bout that Mikaelian’s WBC title would not be on the line, a development White’s team had to manage at short notice.

“All this stuff is a work in progress,” White said. “We want to do right by the fighters, so we’ll see how it all plays out. Any of you that have covered boxing for any amount of time, you know how the bullshit goes.”