'Let's get in the ring': Oscar De La Hoya calls out rival promoter Dana White

It's no secret boxing legend-turned-promoter Oscar De La Hoya and UFC president Dana White aren't on each other's Christmas card lists. But now De La Hoya has ramped up their rivalry further by challenging White to a boxing match.

Following a series of pointed accusations from White, De La Hoya – who recently promoted a controversial MMA bout between aging former UFC legends Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz – challenged the UFC boss to step through the ropes and face him.

White had previously slammed De La Hoya's staging of the Liddell-Ortiz bout, calling him a "cokehead junkie" and prompting an angry response from the former world champion.

READ MORE: 'He should shut the f*** up': Oscar De La Hoya fires back at Dana White's 'cokehead junkie' jibes

And this week White appeared on ESPN's First Take and labeled De La Hoya an "an idiot" and "a liar" as he defended the UFC against the boxing promoter's accusations of underpaying their fighters.

White said: "It’s one thing to sit around with your friends and lie. It’s another thing to go on ESPN and lie.

© Reuters / Mike Segar

"So here are the facts. I have paid Chuck Liddell more money over the years not to fight in the last seven yearsthan he paid him to fight Tito Ortiz. That’s a fact, number one. From 2011 to 2017, when I asked him to retire, we paid him around $400,000 a year to not fight."

When De La Hoya was played those comments during his appearance on The Luke Thomas Show, he mockingly called out White for a boxing bout.

"Let’s get in the ring," he said. "Yeah, why not? Let’s get in the ring. Three rounds. Let’s do this."

READ MORE: The man to KO Trump? Boxing legend De La Hoya considering bid for US presidency

De La Hoya was appearing on the show on Sirius XM radio in the US to chat about his client Saul "Canelo" Alvarez's upcoming super-middleweight title challenge against British world champion Rocky Fielding on Saturday night.

But the discussion turned to the former six-weight world champion's back-and-forth war of words with the UFC chief.

© Reuters / Mario Anzuoni

"Let’s do this under Canelo (on) Cinco de Mayo," he said.

"I’ll even give you five months so you can get off the juice and then we can, you know, get in great shape and then we go three rounds.

"I’m going to give you what, a 50lb advantage? That’s OK, I can take you on. Let’s do it."

Then the former world champion delivered his final insult at the UFC supremo, saying glibly: "Oh wait! He's never laced up a glove in his life. I'm sorry about that..."

While the likelihood of an actual bout between the two is slim at best, what seems certain is the war of words between the pair will continue to run well into 2019, and possibly beyond.