Promoter Oscar De La Hoya apparently doesn't want to be the odd man out amid the burgeoning boxing scene in Saudi Arabia.

The Hall of Fame fighter and founder of Golden Boy Promotions indicated to reporters recently that he had some qualms about sending fighters over to the oil-producing kingdom to participate in the high-profile cards that have taken the sport by storm.

Next month, the Saudi capital of Riyadh will host the undisputed heavyweight championship between Tyson Fury. In March, Anthony Joshua will take on Francis Ngannou in yet another matchup that will grab headlines. And there is an expectation that light heavyweight champions Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol will compete for the division’s undisputed distinction in the summer.

The spate of intriguing fights involving rival promoters in the region, beginning with Fury’s fight against Ngannou last October, is thanks to Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority.

De La Hoya said he was not sure pulling American fighters out of their local fan base and media ecosystem to fight in Saudi Arabia was necessarily the right move, even if career-high paydays were at stake.

When Alalshikh was informed of De La Hoya’s reservation earlier this month during a press conference to announce Joshua-Ngannou, the powerbroker simply said, “We will miss him—thank you,” which prompted the room to erupt in laughter.

Apparently that has caused De La Hoya to go on damage control.

In a recent post on his Instagram account, Alalshikh put up a video of young Saudi Arabians training out of a new gym backed by Mike Tyson, with the caption, “Delighted with the development currently taking place in Mike Tyson's gym... God willing, a Saudi, Arab and international generation will come out of this gym.”

De La Hoya then left a comment on the post informing Alalshikh that he would be more than happy to help out as a talent scout.  

“I’ve promoted thousands of fighters including [Floyd] Mayweather, [Manny] Pacquiao, Canelo [Alvarez], [Marco Antonio] Barrera, Ryan [Garcia], I can identify a fighter and I can make you proud,” De La Hoya wrote.

Alalshikh has managed to get rival promoters in the sport to cooperate because of the enormous, above-market paydays they are able to offer to fighters. Most notably, Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren, longtime adversaries, have put their animus to the side.

Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.