‘I Was Wrong’: Oscar De La Hoya admits regret over deal with Turki Alalshikh

On November 11, 2024, Turki Alalshikh announced on X that he had acquired 100% of The Ring Magazine, in a deal reportedly worth $10 million. It was a deal that split opinions in the sport. Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Oscar De La Hoya admitted he now regrets selling The Ring Magazine to Turki Alalshikh.

Turki Alalshikh’s Ring Magazine takeover

When announcing his move to acquire The Ring, Alalshikh said via his X account: “We will restore the legacy of The Ring Rankings to its old mechanism with a fully independent panel that lives up to the Ring Magazine’s golden era. We will continue to raise the prestige of The Ring Titles, and plans are already underway to have a yearly extravagant awards ceremony to celebrate the very best in the boxing industry.”

When talking to Forbes at the time of the sale, Oscar De La Hoya explained the deal:

“I did have some conversations with His Excellency,” De La Hoya said. “He obviously made the offer that we could not refuse. It was an asset that I held on to for many years. We were steadily holding on to it, keeping it alive.”

At the time of the deal, the Golden Boy founder appeared full of optimism regarding the deal:

“It’s in great hands,” De La Hoya added.

Oscar De La Hoya admits regret over Ring Magazine deal

Speaking to Ariel Helwani, Oscar De La Hoya didn’t hold back when discussing the sale of The Ring Magazine, admitting his regret:

“I never regret anything, but I do [regret selling]. When I had the Ring Magazine, I kept its integrity… Turki came along and, I thought I was selling it to a person who really cared for the sport and was going to uphold its integrity, but I guess I was wrong.”

“I really do think that the Ring rankings are out the window. I don’t think there’s any integrity there, whatsoever. The Ring Magazine belt was everything for a 100 years, let’s say, and now it can just be in the trash can.”