Boxing

Make no mistake about it, Oscar De La Hoya is still pissed Dana White scheduled his superfight 3 weeks before Canelo vs. GGG ... but he's just taken the first step in repairing their friendship.

Long story short ... De La Hoya says White broke a very serious unwritten rule between fight promoters -- a rule everyone from Don King to Bob Arum hold sacred.

But despite their feud over the McGregor vs. Mayweather fight -- De La Hoya tells TMZ Sports he still "loves" Dana and even made a pretty solid peace offering.

No word if Dana will accept ... he's still pretty pissed too.

Boxing legend Julio Cesar Chavez's brother, Rafael, was murdered in Mexico during a botched armed robbery ... local authorities announced Monday.

According to a Sinaloa state prosecutor, two men entered Rafael Chavez's Culiacan home Sunday night and demanded money. One of the men was armed.

During the robbery, Chavez resisted and was shot and killed in front of his family.

Attention NBA, think twice before starting any static with Raptors superstar DeMar DeRozan ... 'cause the dude is spending his off-season throwing some serious hands with Floyd Mayweather's camp.

DeMar was one of the few people inside Floyd's private workout at Ten Goose Boxing Gym in L.A. this week -- begging the question ... whatcha doing here?

Turns out, DeMar's been training with the people who train Floyd -- plus, he's been studying Mayweather at the boxer's home gym in Vegas over the years, too. They're pretty tight.

We got our hands on one of DeMar's training sessions ... dude is no joke.

Rumble young man, rumble.

Gennady Golovkin's wife Alina actually wants to spend time with her husband (crazy, right?!) ... and the boxing superstar says he's considering retiring from boxing if it makes her happy.

GGG is 35 -- and there's talk he could hang 'em up after he clashes with Canelo Alvarez on Sept. 16th.

So, we asked Gennady straight-up to set the record straight and he told us, "This is a question for my wife!"

"She says, 'I need time with you!'"

Check out the way GGG looks in a suit. Can you blame her?

Shots fired from boxing legend Bernard Hopkins -- who's dissing McGregor vs. Mayweather in a BIG way ... saying the whole thing is a "fake news" fight.

FYI, B-Hop works for Golden Boy Promotions and is hyping the other superfight of the year -- Canelo vs. GGG ... a fight Hopkins says is undoubtedly the superior event.

In fact, he has a message to people leaning toward buying the MayMac PPV over the Canelo fight.

"You got a chance to get in a Ferrari but you choose the Pontiac?!?"

Yeah ... he's not holding back. In fact, he won't even say Conor's full name.

Floyd Mayweather spent 4 hours in an L.A. gym training for Conor McGregor -- repeating a mantra to himself during the workout, "You name him. I beat him."

The Best Ever hit up Ten Goose Boxing Gym in Van Nuys with the TMT crew and NBA star, DeMar DeRozan -- and busted his ass in preparation for the August 26 fight.

Mayweather was talking to himself during the session saying, "I be trying to tell ya'll ... I can get a black eye, a bloody nose. I can have a bad day in the gym. At the end of the day, I don't have a bad payday and I don't have a bad night under the lights."

He added, "I get bumps, bruises ... but I don't have a bad night."

Floyd's famous for his grueling workouts -- and this one was no exception.

Oscar De La Hoya is firing back at Dana White -- saying it was "disrespectful" for the UFC boss to book McGregor vs. Mayweather three weeks ahead of Canelo vs. GGG.

White had previously attacked Oscar in a expletive-filled verbal smackdown after ODLH bashed the McGregor fight as nothing more than a "circus."

Fast forward to Wednesday when Oscar appeared on ESPN with Canelo Alverez and Gennady Golovkin and was asked how he felt about Dana upstreaming him.

"It was disrespectful," Oscar said.

"I would have thought that Dana White would have a little more respect with this boxing event taking place, because look, you just don’t do that."

"It's like having the Super Bowl and then three weeks later the World Series takes place, the final game. It just doesn’t happen."

"We have the whole year to stage these types of big events ... They could have maybe staged it in November or December but, look, it is what it is."

"We have a superfight here. We have a real fight, and that’s exactly what we’re focusing on."

Boxing star Mikey Garcia says he's gonna kick Adrien Broner's ass ... and there's nothing his BFF, Floyd Mayweather, can do about it.

Broner and Mayweather are as thick as thieves -- Broner not only refers to him as his "Big Bro" but they they've trained and lived together. Floyd's like his mentor.

Garcia and Broner are set to face off on July 29 -- and while Mikey says he LOVES the Floyd connection because it helps with promotion, TBE is helpless to save AB from the punishment he's about to receive.

Broner has other plans ... telling TMZ Sports he expects to get through the fight unscathed so he can take on Nate Diaz on the Mayweather, McGregor undercard less than a month later.

Good luck with that ...

Another day, another guy saying Mayweather is going to kick the hell out of Conor McGregor ... this time it's George Lopez who says the fight is so lopsided, McGregor won't land a single punch.

George was out at LAX when he was asked his thoughts on the superfight set to go down at T-Mobile Arena (sorry, Ice Cube) on August 26.

Floyd's not only gonna win the fight, but George says it won't even be a watchable contest -- because McGregor will be swingin' at air.

"Sugar" Ray Leonard thinks Conor McGregor is a very tough dude -- but when it comes to his fight with Floyd Mayweather he has one piece of advice ... "DUCK!"

The boxing legend -- who beat Floyd's dad in 1978 -- was at LAX when he told us why he believes the Irish superstar is in for a beating when they face off on August 26.

Here's some nice, cool SHAAADE ... courtesy of Ice Cube.

As we previously reported, Cube's BIG3 basketball league is in a standoff with Mayweather, McGregor over the T-Mobile Arena for August 26.

BIG3 says it booked the venue first and won't budge (unless the price is right) -- while the boxing promoters aren't backing down either.

So, we asked Cube about the big fight when we saw him at LAX on Monday -- his response?

"Oh, that fight is uh happening?"

Adrien Broner just called out a BIG name for the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor undercard ... telling TMZ Sports he wants to fight UFC badass Nate Diaz.

There's just one minor issue ... Broner is taking on undefeated Mikey Garcia in a big Showtime boxing event on July 29 at Barclay's Center -- one month before MayMac. But AB has a plan.

"If I come out unmarked ... like I usually do, I’ll be willing to fight on Floyd’s undercard," Broner said. "If we can make it happen, let’s do it."

Might sound crazy -- but remember, Broner is Floyd's boy -- they're super tight -- and Team Mayweather has complete control when it comes to booking the undercard. Don't completely rule it out.

No response yet from Diaz ... who has been chillin' since his rematch with Conor in August.

And get this ... Broner also explains why he thinks McGregor has a REAL SHOT at beating Floyd.

Ice Cube has a message for Conor and Floyd -- if you want the site, the money's gotta be right.

The rap icon -- who also runs the BIG3 basketball league -- appeared on "Undisputed" on FS1 Monday morning to address the standoff over the T-Mobile Arena.

As we previously reported, McGregor and Mayweather have been promoting their August 26 fight at the T-Mobile Arena. Problem is, Cube already had the venue booked for the BIG3 championship game.

But there's a solution -- cash.

Cube says he's absolutely willing to move if the MayMac people "do what they're supposed to do and make us happy."

There's a fight of the century over the fight of the century ... with two major sporting events vying for the T-Mobile Arena on August 26th.

In one corner ... Mayweather vs. McGregor. When the fight was announced, Dana White and Floyd Mayweather stated it will take place at the Vegas venue.

Problem is ... Ice Cube's BIG3 basketball league already booked the location for the league championship game on the same night.

Our BIG3 sources tell us they have no plans to move -- they still have the venue booked and expect to play there on August 26th. The league even tweeted about it on Friday evening and T-Mobile has game tickets for sale on its site.

Sources connected to May-Mac tell us there are plans in motion to move BIG3 to the nearby MGM Grand Garden Arena ... it's just a matter of time before that becomes official.

Andre Ward says Sergey Kovalev needs to be punished for his racist antics on social media, and tells TMZ Sports he's gonna do it with his fists when the two men meet on June 17.

Kovalev's been getting heat for a meme he posted to his social media recently, one that depicts a fake convo between him and Ward, where Andre repeatedly uses both the N- and F- words.

Sergey has since deleted the video meme, but the backlash was swift from those who said that making it sound as if Ward -- a devout Christian -- dropped nonstop n-bombs was racist.

BTW ... it's not the first time the Russian fighter has been accused of racism, but he has said in the past that cultural misunderstandings were to blame for the controversies.

Ward ain't buying it, and told us there was NO DOUBT the post was racist, and he's gonna make Kovalev pay for it.

"He's culturally sound enough to know some of the things he's been doing are racially motivated. It's more motivation, definitely more motivation," Ward says ... adding, "He needs to be silenced."

** HERE'S KOVALEV'S VIDEO -- WARNING: CONTAINS OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE**

If Conor McGregor doesn't put Mayweather on his ass in the first SIX rounds, he's dead in the water ... so says Dominick Cruz.

The UFC star/analyst says he's been racking his brain over the fight -- and says Conor has a real shot ... but he better act fast. The clock is his enemy.

No matter the outcome, Cruz says McGregor is doing MMA (and its fighters) a big favor.