Ellerbe slams De La Hoya for calling out McGregor

Boxingnews24.com

By Chris Williams: Mayweather Promotions EO Leonard Ellerbe took enjoyment at taking a swipe at Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya on Tuesday after hearing the news about how he had called out UFC star Conor McGregor for a fight.

Ellerbe was nothing short of amused at seeing De La Hoya try and work his way into a fight against the 29-year-old McGregor after he’d heavily criticized Mayweather for facing him last August in their big money fight in Las Vegas, Nevada.

”Went out of his way to hate on our fight, sent it to fans, did interviews and now he want to do what? Go sit down you are not Floyd, FOH!” said Ellerbe on his Twitter.

Just last May, De La Hoya had referred to the Mayweather-McGregor fight a “step backwards, not a step forward.”

De La Hoya had a lot of negative things to say about the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight, as he believed it would hurt he sport of boxing. The fight turned out to be a huge draw with fans of both boxing and the UFC. It brought in over 4 million PPV buys. It’s unknown how many buys the fight will ultimately bring in, because they still have finished tabulating the buys yet.

Some boxing fans think De La Hoya is getting desperate right now. The way that he’s decided to come back for a fight with McGregor, it’s a bad look for him in the eyes of many in the boxing world. De La Hoya would be better off sticking with his promotional business, Golden Boy. De La Hoya had a fairly long career, and he got out of the sport in his early 30s after making a ton of money.

The 44-year-old De La Hoya surprised the boxing world this week when he revealed on Golden Boy radio that he’s in training, and that he wants to fight McGregor. De La Hoya says he thinks he can KO McGregor in 2 rounds. If De La Hoya thought this challenge would elicit a positive response from McGregor, then he was sorely mistaken. It’s done nothing.

McGregor made no comment at all about De La Hoya’s challenge. McGregor is using the same approach that he employs when he’s called out by UFC fighters that aren’t in the same league as him in terms of popularity. McGregor ignores them. The only fighters that McGregor comments on are ones that he has an interest in. De La Hoya obviously isn’t someone that McGregor is interested in fighting.

Here’s what De La Hoya said about Mayweather fighting McGregor last May before their August 26 fight:

“I’m standing behind a sport I dearly love and that’s boxing. You have a UFC fighter who has no experience whatsoever in boxing. He has no professional experience, nothing, wanting to face the best boxer of our generation in his very first fight. What’s going to happen? People are going to be turned off with boxing one again. So that’s my beef. I’m coming in as the savior of the sport by making Triple G and Canelo, making all these great fights, and then you have that [Mayweather vs. McGregor].”