Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions has again stated that he has not been approached regarding a contest between Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn, widely reported to be in the works for September 12.
De La Hoya, who promotes Garcia despite the pair publicly falling out several times during their alliance, called reports suggesting the fight is almost done “fake news”.
“People are posting about the Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn fight in Las Vegas, September 12,” De La Hoya said during an Instagram video address. “But I have yet to be approached about making this fight.”
Garcia is one fight into a two-fight agreement with Turki Alalshikh and Sela but the fighter also has obligations to DAZN and Golden Boy. A bout with Zuffa Boxing’s Benn, 25-1 (14 KOs), was being lined up to appear on Paramount+, said De La Hoya.
“Apparently, the Saudis have chosen Conor Benn to be Ryan’s next opponent,” the promoter said. “Nobody’s asking for this fight. The fans are definitely not wanting this fight.”
Benn, despite not fighting in the welterweight class since 2022, is the WBC’s No. 1 contender. Garcia, 25-2-1 NC (20 KOs), rebounded from a May 2025 loss to Rolly Romero to take the WBC title from Mario Barrios in February. The 27-year-old previously served a one-year ban after his April 2024 victory over Devin Haney was disqualified when he failed two PED tests.
“If it were up to me, I would have picked Devin Haney for the rematch [with Garcia]. That’s a much bigger fight. But because Turki owns Zuffa, and wants to help them out, he picked Conor Benn. Whatever, that’s fine, but you can’t just make fights without Golden Boy and DAZN.
“There are contracts in place. You can’t just do whatever you want here in America. There are laws and legally binding contracts,” De La Hoya said while demanding that Zuffa’s Dana White contact him directly about Garcia’s availability.
De La Hoya went on to question the logic of omitting leading American promoters – Golden Boy, Top Rank, and PBC – from the recent ‘peace summit’ that Alashikh staged between representatives from Zuffa, Matchroom, Queensberry and DAZN before closing his address by cracking open a can of Budweiser and wishing everyone a “happy 4th of July”.
