“There is a manager I will never work with in my life, Rick Mirigian,” De La Hoya said in an interview with DAZN on Saturday night. “He is the one who stops the fight from happening.”
De La Hoya insisted that he had wanted the Ortiz-Ennis fight for weeks and said the pushback was not coming from Golden Boy.
“I was ready to make this fight a month ago,” De La Hoya said. “I want the Vergil Ortiz-Boots fight, not as a promoter, but as a fan.”
Ortiz and Ennis have both exchanged messages on social media in recent weeks as talk of a matchup between the welterweight contenders has intensified.
The situation further escalated when De La Hoya said that the relationship between Golden Boy and Ortiz may already be irreparable.
“From what he said, there’s no way I would work with him again,” De La Hoya said when asked about the possibility of working with Ortiz in the future.
However, Ortiz remains under contract with Golden Boy, and De La Hoya emphasized that the legal agreement between the two sides remains in place.
“We have a legally binding contract,” De La Hoya said.
The disagreement has become one of the more public disputes in the welterweight division, with the proposed Ortiz-Ennis fight seen as a potential big matchup at 147 pounds.
For now, the outcome may depend on the arbitration process, which is expected to determine how the contractual issues between Golden Boy and Ortiz are resolved.
