Oscar De La Hoya appears desperate to get a foothold in Saudi Arabia by securing the biggest fights.
Bob Arum, Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren have established themselves in the Kingdom, leaving De La Hoya on the sidelines. Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury have secured bouts in the Kingdom due to Hearn, Warren and Arum’s cooperation. Although that may be the case, De La Hoya has not managed to do the same.
His biggest fighter to date is Ryan Garcia, who may have enough of a following to secure a fight in the Kingdom. He was linked with the Devin Haney fight before going after Rolando Romero. If that fight can be revisited, then that would provide De La Hoya with a reason to enter the Saudi Market. By the looks of it, this is what he intends to do.
De La Hoya On Saudi
“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 said
Despite this being the case, it is essential to bear in mind the following points. De La Hoya’s biggest market is in the United States. Garcia’s fight with Gervonta Davis showed that as the bout sold over 1.2 million PPVs in a fight that captivated the American audience.
There is nothing to suggest that Garcia could have done the same if he were to fight in Saudi Arabia. But the Kingdom has shown that it is willing to pay fighters career-high purses to get fights over the line. Fury and Usyk were paid their highest purses without considering the purse split, as they were given fixed guarantees. But De La Hoya stated that he was concerned about fighters pursuing fights in Saudi, given that it takes away fights from the US.
De La Hoya’s Concerns
“It’s a bittersweet deal fighting in Saudi, fighting in Riyadh. You think about OK, [Golden Boy client] Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney. That fight can generate between 500 (thousand pay-per-view buys) and if it hits a home run, a million homes. The gate can be incredible here in Las Vegas, right? Riyadh can pay me a boatload of money and stage the fight out there but you’re literally doing an injustice to the fans here in America, because the fight would have to be shown early, and the PR machine behind the whole event wouldn’t be the same.
“The fighters wouldn’t get the publicity or the recognition like fighting here in Vegas. Because when you fight here in Vegas it’s like a fire, you start a fire and that fire just takes off like wildfire all over the country. So, I have to weigh my questions. Do I want the quick money in Riyadh and lose the fanbase and lose the fans that the fighters need in order to progress their career?” De La Hoya stated
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