Oscar De La Hoya has accused Turki Alalshikh of deliberately excluding top American promoters from a recent summit to prioritize his new Zuffa boxing venture. He argues the move is a calculated effort to sideline the established U.S. market powers.
The accusation follows a meeting between Alalshikh, Frank Warren, and Eddie Hearn, which notably lacked representation from Golden Boy, Top Rank, or PBC. De La Hoya connected this exclusion directly to Alalshikh’s strategic goals with Zuffa and his attempt to book a Ryan Garcia fight without consulting Golden Boy. He claimed the meeting was disingenuous. “It’s why you wanted to call a peace meeting with Frank [Warren] and Eddie [Hearn] over a war that you started,” De La Hoya stated. He then issued a sharp reminder of where the power in American boxing resides. “And by the way, you left me, Al Haymon and Bob Arum out of your peace meeting. And guess what? We control the U.S. market.”
De La Hoya detailed his existing agreement for Garcia, suggesting the Saudis are now making unilateral decisions on opponents to benefit Zuffa. “We signed a two-fight deal for Ryan with the Saudis last year. The first fight was with Barrios, and apparently the Saudis have chosen Conor Benn to be Ryan’s next opponent,” he said, confirming Golden Boy has not been approached to make the fight. This situation, in De La Hoya’s view, illustrates a disregard for current promotional contracts.
The conflict establishes a clear line between Alalshikh’s global ambitions and the entrenched structure of American boxing. De La Hoya warned that financial influence does not supersede legal agreements within the United States. He argued that Alalshikh cannot simply bypass the promoters who have fighters under legally binding deals. “You can’t just do whatever you want here in America. There are laws and legally binding contracts,” De La Hoya said. “Turki and Sela, you can’t call up any fighter you want and make a fight. You can’t put fights on any network you want.” The dispute now centers on whether Alalshikh’s push into the U.S. will force cooperation with the established promoters or lead to significant legal and promotional clashes.
