Dana White denies De La Hoya's claim he would have been embarrassed at Garcia-Benn fight

Dana White has disputed Oscar De La Hoya’s explanation for his absence from Ryan Garcia’s WBC welterweight title victory over Conor Benn, calling the Golden Boy Promotions founder’s account inaccurate.

Garcia stopped Benn in the second round of their WBC welterweight title bout on September 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. De La Hoya, who had previously indicated he would attend the event — co-promoted by White’s Zuffa Boxing and De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions — was a notable no-show despite holding a seat and VIP access.

Speaking to Fight Hub TV, De La Hoya said the decision was a deliberate act of self-preservation. “I wasn’t going to show up to be embarrassed,” he said. “It was a Zuffa f*cking event. A ‘Zuffa event,’ a ‘Turki event.’ I was not going to show up and be embarrassed, because that’s exactly what they were going to do to me. I was not going to do that. So, I made the wise decision to not go. It would have been embarrassing. It would have created distractions. It would have been a mess.”

White addressed the remarks after the latest episode of Dana White’s Contender Series, pushing back firmly on the suggestion that he would orchestrate a public humiliation. “I would never do that,” White said. “Listen, my dislike for Oscar De La Hoya is very well known. He knows it, I know it, and it’s mutual. But I am the type of person who would call and say, ‘Don’t even try and show up to this f*cking fight. You’re not welcome.’ I would never have somebody show up to an event and do that.”

The exchange lays bare the fractured relationship between two of boxing’s most prominent promotional figures. White and De La Hoya have a long-documented mutual antagonism, and the Garcia-Benn card — which brought their organisations into a rare co-promotional arrangement — clearly did little to ease tensions. White’s position is that he operates with a blunt directness rather than behind-the-scenes manoeuvring, while De La Hoya maintains he read the room correctly by staying away.