Triller CEO Ryan Kavanaugh believes the ring return of six division champion Oscar De La Hoya will be 'one of the biggest fights' of 2021.

De La Hoya has been out of the ring since 2008, when he was battered and stopped by Manny Pacquiao in a one-sided fight. The 'Golden Boy' retired in the aftermath.

After walking away from being an active fighter, De La Hoya focused on his promotional company, Golden Boy Promotions.

A few weeks ago, the 48-year-old De La Hoya unexpectedly revealed that he was planning to return to the ring on July 3 - with Triller financially backing the event.

While the opponent is unknown, they are working on securing a very big name for De La Hoya.

"We are almost done, but if we get this person it will be worldwide news. I'd argue it would be one of the biggest fights in the world this year. It would be someone of Oscar's same skill and notoriety and history and persona in the combat sports world," Kavanaugh told The Sun.

However, during the recent Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren pay-per-view card, De La Hoya was one of the broadcasters during the undercard and took part in the live duties while intoxicated - which generated an immediate demand from fans to call off his ring return.

"People love to hate. It's the reason why 90 per cent of comments on any social media are negative as people, for a lack of a better word, love to talk sh!t," Kavanaugh said.

"It was a fun event, you had two people up on stage smoking joints, so Oscar had a couple of drinks. He wasn't falling over, he wasn't so awful that he did something terrible. It was a fun event and people were encouraged to enjoy themselves.

"Even Al said on the air, 'I'm having a glass of wine'. Al, of all people. I just think people love to talk sh!t. I don't think Oscar was that bad, he was just having fun with it, we told him to have fun with it, we said go and enjoy it. He's a pro at this. He knows there's trolls. Anybody that has enough time to go onto the internet and start commenting negatively in big ways, and making a point of it, they obviously have other issues."