Dana White and Ryan Garcia Both Say Oscar De La Hoya Wasn’t Banned From Garcia vs. Benn
By Real Combat Media Boxing Editorial Staff
Las Vegas, Nevada, (September 15th, 2026)–Ryan Garcia stopped Conor Benn in two rounds Saturday to retain his WBC welterweight title, but the biggest story to come out of fight week ended up being who wasn’t in the building. Oscar De La Hoya, whose Golden Boy Promotions still has Garcia under contract, was nowhere to be found at T-Mobile Arena, and in the days since, Dana White, Garcia himself, and a Golden Boy Promotions director have all offered accounts of why, none of which fully agree with each other.
Dana White: ‘I Would Never Disrespect Him’
White addressed the rumors directly at Saturday’s post-fight press conference after veteran boxing reporter Dan Rafael wrote during the broadcast that Zuffa Boxing had denied De La Hoya a credential for the event. White rejected that account. “I heard there’s some rumblings, so let me explain something to you,” White said. “I do not like De La Hoya and De La Hoya does not like me. I would never disrespect him and say, ‘Oh, he shows up here and we treat him like [expletive].’ I would call him on the phone and say, ‘Hey, don’t [expletive] show up to this event because we’re not going to treat you well.’ That was not the case. Why he didn’t show up, I don’t know.”
Rafael has continued to dispute that version in the days since, writing that “Oscar and other GB personnel were denied credentials even though they had a prelim fight and are Garcia’s promoters,” and that De La Hoya ultimately watched the fight from his home in Las Vegas.
Ryan Garcia: From Disappointed to Blunt
Garcia’s own account has shifted noticeably since fight night. In his immediate post-fight press conference, he sounded disappointed but measured. “I thought he was going to be here,” Garcia said. “They told me that he had a seat, and I actually invited him to walk out with me. I thought that was going to be iconic, everyone asking where he was. But it is what it is. It didn’t happen. I’m here just to do my job.” Days later, appearing on The Ariel Helwani Show, Garcia was considerably less diplomatic. “Honestly, nobody wanted him there,” he said, before adding, “I wish Oscar was there, I wish he walked out with me and I wish he would’ve been ringside no matter what. That would’ve shown his love for me.” Asked more directly about the relationship, Garcia called his promoter “weird, bro.”
Jane Murcia: A Mix-Up Over the Walkout
Jane Murcia, the public relations manager at Golden Boy Promotions, offered a different piece of the story entirely, one focused specifically on the ring walk rather than the credential dispute. According to Murcia, Garcia had originally invited both De La Hoya and Mexican boxing legend Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. to walk him to the ring, the “big surprise” De La Hoya had teased on social media before fight night. Murcia says that plan changed the morning of the fight, when Garcia’s team called Golden Boy to say Garcia now wanted Marco Antonio Barrera and WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio for the walkout instead. Garcia ultimately entered the ring flanked by Barrera and Mysterio, the latter carrying a Mexican flag for the Mexican Independence Day weekend card. “I want to clarify this because there seems to be some confusion, and it genuinely makes me sad to think Ryan is under the impression that Oscar did not want to walk him out,” Murcia wrote. “Yes, Ryan invited Oscar to walk him out along with Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. The morning of the fight, however, we received a call from Ryan’s team informing us that Ryan had changed his mind and no longer wanted [De La Hoya] to walk him out.”
Murcia’s statement addresses the walkout specifically, but as several reporters have noted, it doesn’t fully explain the separate, disputed claim that De La Hoya and Golden Boy staff were denied credentials for the building altogether, a claim White denies and Rafael maintains.
Watch: The Full Story in Their Own Words
Where This Leaves Things
What’s actually confirmed: De La Hoya wasn’t at T-Mobile Arena, Garcia expected him to be, and Golden Boy says the walkout plan changed on fight morning. What’s still disputed: whether that walkout change is the whole story, or whether De La Hoya and his staff were separately shut out of the building entirely, as Dan Rafael continues to report and Dana White continues to deny. Oscar De La Hoya has not yet given his own detailed, on-camera account of what happened. He runs a weekly segment on his social channels where he responds to stories like this one, so RCM will be watching for it. Until then, we’ll wait for Oscar’s side of this before treating any single version as the final word.
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