The next crossover megafight!?

Conor McGregor VS Oscar De La Hoya: The next crossover mega fight?

Controversial Conor’s first transition to professional boxing wasn’t welcomed by many and his tenth-round stoppage defeat meant, even more, do not want to see him return to the ring. The Marmite character has as many haters as he does fans but either way, the UFC’s former double champion attracts views…a lot of them.

The Irishmen does numbers so to speak. He is the UFC’s biggest asset when it comes to money as he is their best selling PPV fighter. Not only this, but his only paid boxing bout is the second-highest PPV event in the history of the sport.

After having a hiatus from his own respective sport of MMA, he has been linked with multiple opponents whilst being as vocal as ever about them. One matchup plays on the prospect of him crossing over yet again to settle a promotional rivalry against outspoken, retired boxer turned promoter, Oscar De La Hoya.

Although being absent from the sport for over a decade, the former six-weight world champion is more than a worthy opponent to lock horns with the notorious one. The one and only Floyd Mayweather (McGregor’s last boxing opponent) went the distance against De La Hoya and edged a victory only by split decision.

There is more than meets the eye with these two athletes colliding for a seismic payday though as they have history that dates to McGregor’s debut in the ring three years ago.

De La Hoya made it overly clear how much he opposed the concept of the ground-breaking bout which resulted in him going back and forth on social media with the UFC star.

The Golden Boy promotor’s displeasure also did not sit well with UFC president Dana White who was marketing the mega fight. Their relationship began to sour after the Mexican American poorly attempted to stage an MMA event a year later.

So, when McGregor heard his long time rival say he could dispose of him in just “two rounds” he was quick to accept his challenge. Additionally, White was quick to critique.

In an interview on ESPN’s YouTube channel, when asked about the feud, the Bostonian replies with,

“[De La Hoya] tells people not to watch [The Money Fight] and that it’s a disgrace to Boxing but him versus McGregor isn’t?

“What that tells me is when almost-50-year-old Oscar De La Hoya wants to fight Conor McGregor, it means he’s broke.”

Following this backlash, the Golden Boy felt he was misunderstood when commenting that he’d finish the Crumlin native in quick fashion thus tried to amend things by tweeting:

“For the record: McGregor, I never challenged you. I was just asked a question and I simply spoke the truth”

Trying to resolve a situation by believing an answer, which started the conflict in the first place, to be true is not the most effective way by any means.

Boxing fans clearly have a pre-existing belief that the ‘Proper No. Twelve Whiskey’ founder will fall short of being successful if he was to enter the ring again.  A philosophy established upon his previous stoppage loss.

One Twitter user commented under De La Hoya’s shallow tweet saying:

“Do we really need another fight where Conor McGregor gets beaten up by an elderly person”

The ‘elderly person’ eluded to here was a 40-year-old active Mayweather who extended his record to 50-0 following the historical bout in 2017.

Another fan spoke out regarding if these athlete’s animosity materialized into a match:

“What would anyone have to gain from a retired 48-year-old man and a currently active MMA competitor squaring off in a boxing ring? It would be horrible to watch and have nothing to prove”

One would think that if this wasn’t to be a fan favorite, and the “currently active MMA competitor” is on the precipice of a title shot in his respective sport then there would be no reason to give this the go-ahead. But this is boxing, and there is more than enough money to turn the head of any athlete and form the most obscure of bouts.

If the two come to blows, it is unlikely that it’ll be the second coming of Hagler VS Hearns but it will assuredly bring fresh fans to the sport.

One benefit we can all appreciate.

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Max Taylor articles
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