By Mark Vester
UFC president Dana White has been a critic of the way boxing is run for a long time. Many boxing fans don't like him, but agree with his comments on why the sport of boxing is troubled. White's recent comments took aim at Oscar De La Hoya and his promotional company, Golden Boy Promotions. He went after the way De La Hoya does business and the undercards that accompany Oscar's pay-per-view appearances.
White has always said that he looked at the wrongs in boxing - to make sure that none of them would appear in the UFC. He says De La Hoya's greed prevents him from stacking the undercards of his pay-per-views.
"I used (boxing) as the blueprint of what not to do. Boxing doesn't do what I would do if I was running one of these cards. When De La Hoya and Mayweather had their pay-per-view with over 1 million buys [actually 2.4 million], he could have stacked that card with all the talent Golden Boy has. You know why he didn't? He didn't want to give up the money," White told the Long Beach Press Telegram.
White went a step further in his attack, stating that De La Hoya only cares about himself and is not the kind of person who is willing to invest money in the future of the sport. He also says De La Hoya is not the only guilty party in this mess, but White uses him to make a strong point about the very poor quality of fights on the undercards of most boxing pay-per-view events.
"Nobody in boxing is willing to invest money back into boxing's future. We do in the UFC. The money that we make we invest back into the business. We use it to help the grow the sport. Nobody in boxing is willing to do that. And because of that, in my opinion, they have no reason to sit around and (cry) their sport is dying," White said.
"A lot of people love that De La Hoya is a fighter and the promoter but thing is, it leaves you short-sighted. And he only cares about himself. He knows he gets the pay-per-views when he fights but he doesn't stack the card with fights that will build future fights. You have to invest in a company and De La Hoya is not willing to do that."
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