Oscar De La Hoya Slams Potential Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor 'Circus'

Boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya penned an open letter Thursday calling on fans to boycott a potential fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor out of respect for the sport of boxing.  

"To my fellow boxing fans, I write in the hopes that together we can protect the sport of boxing," De La Hoya wrote, per ESPN.com's Dan Rafael. "With each passing day, it looks more and more likely that the circus known as Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor will be coming to town in the near future. As undercard fights start to take form, athletic commissions give their blessings in exchange for millions of dollars, and the fighters start counting even more cash, one group will eventually be left to make sure this farce doesn't occur—we, the fans, who are the lifeblood of our sport."

Mayweather and McGregor have been in negotiations regarding a potential boxing match for months. It would mark the first time McGregor, currently the most famous mixed martial artist in the world, has stepped inside a professional boxing ring. 

Mayweather, who is currently retired, would be going for a 50-0 career record and said he is looking for a nine-figure payday to return to the ring.

UFC president Dana White, who said the McGregor side of negotiations are done, recently said he's worried his promotion's biggest star may never fight again should this deal go down. 

“Let me tell you what, the other problem is if this thing goes down, you know, Conor could make anywhere from $60 to $70 million,” White told Snoop Dogg on GGN News. “What I think happens is, and Floyd is gonna make a hundred or whatever, however the thing plays out, I mean, how do you come back and fight for $8, $9, $10 million?”

De La Hoya criticized the potential bout as little more than a cash grab for both sides. 

"Floyd's and Conor's motivation is clear. It's money," De La Hoya wrote. "In fact, they don't even pretend it's not. But it's also a lack of consequences for when the fight ends up being the disaster that is predicted. After this fight, neither of them will need us anymore.

"Floyd will go back to retirement—presumably for good this time with another nine-figure paycheck—and Conor will go back to the UFC. It's a win-win for them. It's a lose-lose for us. We'll be $100 lighter and we will have squandered another opportunity to bring boxing back to its rightful place as the sport of kings. At this point, only we can shut the circus down by making it clear that we won't pay to see a joke of a fight and telling our casual-fan friends that they shouldn't either."

De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions is currently promoting the Canelo Alvarez-Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin bout, which would be the biggest on the boxing calendar if it weren't for Mayweather-McGregor. De La Hoya said his involvement with that bout has nothing to do with his criticisms.