Oscar De La Hoya is no stranger to Las Vegas, having fought in Sin City 25 times during his illustrious boxing career. And now the former six-weight world champion is eyeing a return to the Strip… as mayor of Las Vegas.
De La Hoya, 49, said in a recent Q&A session on Inside Boxing Live that he would be open to running for the Las Vegas mayoral position in the near future.
The Golden Boy, an outside tip with some bookmakers to one day become US president, said: “There might be some opportunities in Vegas to run for mayor. Imagine that? It’ll be interesting to see if I can make a run for mayor in Las Vegas.”
Carolyn Goodman is the current Vegas mayor, having served the city since 2011. The nonpartisan official is 83 and has run as an independent since 2009.
The next Las Vegas mayoral election isn’t scheduled until 2024. However, there is a North Las Vegas mayoral election coming up on November 8, 2022, with a vacancy opened up as incumbent mayor John Jay Lee runs for governor.
Could he target this seat? North Las Vegas sits largely above the iconic Strip, acting more as a suburb for Vegas where locals actually live, rather than being in the heart of the action.
Three people have so-far declared their intention to run in North Las Vegas: state senator Pat Spearman, city councillor Pamela Goynes-Brown and university regent Laura Perkins. Adding De La Hoya to that list would certainly give it some razzmatazz.
Perhaps, though, this race has come too soon for De La Hoya, the boxer turned promoter who is building a house in Sin City. Instead, he could be on the ballot paper for the 2024 Las Vegas vote, assuming Goodman doesn’t run again.
De La Hoya Odds Match Rich Strike
There will also be another election in 2024, for the White House. Bookmakers currently price De La Hoya at +8000 to win the 2024 presidential election – that gives him a 1.2% probability. It’s the same price Rich Strike was given before his Kentucky Derby win this year.
But Californian De La Hoya isn’t interested in the race. “No more presidential run,” he insisted when asked about the possibility of targeting the Oval Office.
Regardless of De La Hoya’s political plans, his main focus is on securing a mega fight between Ryan Garcia and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. Both fighters are unbeaten and De La Hoya dreams of making this lightweight title contest happen.
Mark my words, I will become the first Hispanic athlete to become a Billionaire. Congratulations Tiger, Lebron and Jordan
— Oscar De La Hoya (@OscarDeLaHoya) June 12, 2022
“Tank, I know you had your last fight with Floyd Mayweather, and I respect Floyd Mayweather, and think he did a tremendous job with your career,” he recently said on TMZ. “But, I’m ready to offer you a multi, multi, multi, multi million-dollar offer to fight Ryan Garcia.
“It’ll be the biggest purse that Tank Davis has ever made. We’re ready and willing to split broadcasters, meaning we can have this fight on Showtime PPV and The Zone PPV.
“Let’s make this fight happen. Everyone makes a s***load of money and we give the fight fans what they want to see.”
