Georges St-Pierre has revealed a big reason why UFC President Dana White was against the idea of him boxing Oscar De La Hoya.
It’s no secret that White and De La Hoya have bad blood. White has taken jabs at De La Hoya’s past drug use. De La Hoya has referred to White as a “little b*tch” and has expressed his desire to fight the UFC boss. White claims he’d fight De La Hoya but not under boxing rules.
St-Pierre recently revealed that the UFC blocked him from having a boxing match with “The Golden Boy.” Despite retiring from MMA competition, “Rush” is still under contract with the UFC. St-Pierre says he’ll be 42 once the contract expires, which is about two years from now.
While many may have assumed that White’s grudge with De La Hoya is what led to the boxing match being blocked, that doesn’t seem to be the case. During an appearance on MMAFighting’s The MMA Hour, St-Pierre said White believes he would’ve been toast against De La Hoya inside a boxing ring.
“Well, at first he says to me the reason why he did not want it is because he thought that Oscar would basically destroy me in a boxing match. And I had some good arguments. I told him that I believe Oscar has more mileage than I do, he’s no longer in his prime. I stayed busy the whole time. I’m still in great, great shape. I’m gonna be very well prepared, and I’m taking this fight very seriously. If I do it, it’s because it’s my name, my image is attached to it, so I want to do it 100%.
“And I told Dana if there’s one MMA fighter that can go to boxing and look good in this situation, it would be me. Because we see what happened with Ben Askren and some of the other guys. And at first, he refused. And then he thought about it but he came back with the argument that, oh, now it’s not because he thinks Oscar’s gonna win, he thinks it’s because he doesn’t like the fact that Triller take me and make money (off of me) while I’m still under contract with UFC.”
GSP isn’t the first MMA fighter who has attempted to enter the world of boxing. We’ve seen Ben Askren try his hand only to get stopped via first-round TKO against YouTuber Jake Paul. On Aug. 29, Paul will share the ring with former UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley.
As for De La Hoya, he’ll be back in the ring on Sept. 11. The opportunity that GSP pursued will be going to Vitor Belfort. That boxing match will be promoted by Triller.
