Oscar De La Hoya wants to join forces with former rival Floyd Mayweather to launch an NBA franchise in Las Vegas.
De La Hoya and Mayweather are retired from boxing having made significant wealth from the sport during their high-profile careers. The pair share a heated rivalry which originated from when the pair touched gloves back in 2007 with Mayweather winning by split decision.
De La Hoya and Mayweather both own boxing promotions with De La Hoya running Golden Boy Promotions and his rival leading Mayweather Promotions. However despite their war of words continuing for several years, De La Hoya would like to move on from their feud.
He told FightHype : “I’m actually moving to Vegas my home will be done around May next year. So, building there, so maybe there is something for us [De La Hoya and Mayweather] to do in Vegas together. Some kind of business or I hear that the NBA may possibly go into town and so maybe we can join up and become a powerhouse there and help bring the team to the home that we built. We built Las Vegas – literally. Let’s just move on. I actually recently, several months ago, just said ‘I wish him all the best’.
"It’s funny because everything that he is or he was or how he was promoting, he’s a pioneer. He’s a pioneer. If you think about it, everything he stands for, everything he did, in the past, in the present, now, what he’s going to do in the future it’s like he’s leading the way, he’s charging the way so it’s very admirable.”
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Las Vegas is yet to have a franchise in basketball, despite having Golden Knights in the NHL and Raiders in the NFL. A consortium led by CEO Tim Leiweke has recently acquired 25 acres of land in Las Vegas to build a £2.4billion sports district and an NBA team is considered a high priority.
De La Hoya was on board with the idea and has now offered a partnership to Mayweather, who has recently began his own franchise called The Money Team Racing that has entered NASCAR. The boxing legend is understood to be open to any new ventures and has claimed in the past that he earns around $300million every month from his exhibition fights and other investments.
Despite offering an olive branch to Mayweather, it is likely that the pair will remain rivals with their prize promoting possessions Ryan Garcia and Gervonta Davis expected to go head-to-head in a lightweight showdown. Both Mayweather and De La Hoya have vowed to have direct involvement in any deal, with Garcia even calling out Mayweather himself for a ring meeting.
