Notebook: De La Hoya's return will come in exhibition vs. MMA star Belfort

Inoue headlines on ESPN; Charlo tops Showtime bill

Oscar De La Hoya’s return to the ring is set, although it will not be for an official bout against a top boxer as the Hall of Famer said he wanted.

Nonetheless, De La Hoya, who won world titles in a then-record six weight classes from junior lightweight to middleweight, will return to face MMA fighter Vitor Belfort, a former UFC light heavyweight champion, who has not fought since 2018.

They are scheduled to meet in an exhibition bout on Sept. 11 in the main event of a Triller Fight Club pay-per-view at a venue to be named in Las Vegas, Triller announced on Thursday.

De La Hoya has been talking about making a comeback for the past few years and in late March attended the press conference for the Jake Paul-Ben Askren pay-per-view fight and was introduced by Triller Fight Club co-owner and music star Snoop Dogg to make a special announcement.

De La Hoya, who owns Golden Boy Promotions, said he would be returning to the ring on July 3 and although the date has been pushed back, fight he will, even though some of particulars in terms of rules and weight for the bout have yet to be announced.

The fight will be part of the inaugural TrillerVerz music festival that will run Sept. 10-12 in Las Vegas.

“I am ready to return to the ring and I am proud to be part of Triller and Verzuz and their game-changing model of reimagining the boxing business,” De La Hoya said. “I have nothing but the utmost respect for a champion like Vitor Belfort as we show the world what high level boxing is all about.

“It was incredibly important to me my comeback was on this date (of Mexican Independence Day weekend) as it represents such an important moment in history for me (and) my fans. This is much bigger than just me and this event, for all those with ties and or roots in and to Mexico.”

De La Hoya, a 1992 Olympic gold medalist, who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2014 in his first year of eligibility, has not fought since Manny Pacquiao — the man who broke his divisional title record by winning titles in eight divisions — brutalized him in an eighth-round upset knockout loss in a welterweight fight on Dec. 6, 2008, more than 12 years ago.

De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs), 48, of Los Angeles, was biggest boxing star of his time. He set pay-per-view records and drew sellout crowds while facing a who’s who of elite opponents.

Belfort, who is much bigger than De La Hoya, was due to have an eight-round cruiserweight boxing match against Mike “Real Tarzann” Holston in Miami on Saturday’s Triller Fight Club card. But when unified lightweight world champion Teofimo Lopez came down with Covid-19 and was unable to defend against George Kambosos Jr. in the main event the entire card was postponed.

Belfort, 44, a southpaw from Brazil, is famous for his MMA exploits but he has had one official boxing match. It was a first-round knockout of Josemario Neves, who was also making his pro debut, in Brazil in 2006.

“It will be a pleasure to represent MMA again, this time in the ring against one of the biggest names in the history of boxing,” Belfort said. “It will be a war not to be missed and a fight my kids will be talking about. This is certain to make combat sports history.”

Inoue eyes undisputed title

Unified bantamweight world champion Naoya “Monster” Inoue, the Japanese pound-for-pound star, is back in Las Vegas to defend his title for the fifth time when he faces unheralded Filipino mandatory challenger Michael Dasmarinas in the main event of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card Saturday (ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+, 10 p.m. with preliminaries on ESPN+ beginning at 8 p.m. ET) at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.

Dasmarinas is a massive underdog, which has led to many overlooking him and focusing more on what might be next for Inoue, who is coming off a one-sided seventh-round knockout of Jason Moloney in October, also in Las Vegas.

Inoue (20-0, 17 KOs), 28, who has also won titles at junior bantamweight and junior flyweight, said his goal is to become the undisputed champion at 118-pounds.

“Basically, (becoming undisputed champion) means I'm the best in that weight class, the bantamweight division. To prove that, that's why I'm going after all four belts,” Inoue said through an interpreter at Thursday’s pre-fight news conference. “I feel the expectations, and I want to answer those expectations, and I want to have a performance Saturday night to answer to those expectations.”

The other two belts are held by John Riel Casimero (WBO) and Nonito Donaire, who won the WBC title from Nordine Oubaali by fourth-round knockout on May 29. The most attractive fight would be a rematch with Donaire, who Inoue outpointed in a highly competitive and action-packed unification battle in the World Boxing Super Series final that was the consensus 2019 fight of the year.

Donaire has been outspoken about wanting a rematch and was at the news conference, where he had a friendly encounter and posed for photos with Inoue, who also said he is interested in a rematch.

The southpaw Dasmarinas (30-2-1, 20 KOs), 28, who is 12-0-1 in his last 13 bouts, plans to do all he can to wreck those plans.

“I did everything I am supposed to do in training, and I am prepared, and I will do whatever it takes to give a good fight to Naoya Inoue,” he said. “It was a long, hard wait (after winning the IBF title eliminator in March 2019), but patience and perseverance allowed me to get here.”

In the co-feature, Mikaela Mayer (14-0, 5 KOs), 30, of Los Angeles, will make the first defense of her WBO junior lightweight title against Erica Farias (26-4, 10 KOs), 36, of Argentina. In the opening bout, featherweight Adam Lopez (15-2, 6 KOs), 25, of Glendale, California, will face former junior featherweight titlist Isaac Dogboe (21-2, 15 KOs), 26, of Ghana, in a 10-rounder.

Charlo wants big names

Jermall Charlo, calm and cool, said he is not upset or even frustrated. The WBC middleweight world titlist is simply realistic. He realizes he is a no-win situation when he makes his fourth title defense against the unheralded and huge underdog Juan Macias Montiel in the main event of a Showtime-televised tripleheader on Saturday (9 p.m. ET) at the Toyota Center in Houston, Charlo’s hometown.

Charlo, who said he would like to fight Gennadiy Golovkin or Demetrius Andrade in unification fights that have, knows he is likely to receive little credit if he wins and probable derision if he loses or even struggles. I spoke to Charlo this week and wrote about his no-win situation for The Ring magazine website. Please read that story here: https://www.ringtv.com/623134-jermall-charlo-knows-hes-in-no-win-situation-against-unknown-juan-montiel/#.YMueTyVLCpo.twitter

Show and tell

Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (50-3, 41 KOs) will go down as an all-time great fighter. The Nicaraguan legend has won world titles in four divisions from strawweight to junior bantamweight, was widely regarded as the pound-for-pound king for a stretch and is lock for the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Even though he is coming off a hugely controversial split decision loss to rival Juan Francisco Estrada in their rematch to unify junior bantamweight titles, he is still fighting at a high level and due to meet Estrada in a rubber match in his next fight. Gonzalez turned 34 on Thursday. It has been a pleasure to cover so many of his most meaningful fights at ringside. Here is his rookie card in my boxing collection. It was one of four different cards, along with Gennadiy Golovkin, David Lemieux and Brian Viloria, that comprised a panel that was inserted into the Seidman Productions-produced fight night program for that HBO PPV event at Madison Square Garden in New York in October 2015. As I have done for the entirety of the ongoing set, I wrote the card backs.

De La Hoya photo: Jae C. Hong/Associated Press; Inoue/Dasmarinas photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank