Oscar De La Hoya called Donald Trump a cheater. Donald countered by calling Oscar De La Hoya a liar.
The former Olympic gold medalist alleged the course owner of LA’s Trump National took liberties there during a round of golf with him two years ago. “I’m not [voting] for someone who cheats in golf,” De La Hoya explained.
Trump parried the jab by saying the six-weight titlist is “absolutely lying,” and footage released by TMZ appears to buttress the billionaire-businessman’s case. In 2010, Trump apparently played through, at least so far as taking a one-off shot, De La Hoya’s group, hitting the green from the tee. The retired boxer then marveled at his game. “I’m actually very surprised that he hit his tee shot so close to the pin because that was his first shot of the day,” De La Hoya noted, asking: “What does that tell you? He’s a great golfer.”
“Not only didn’t I cheat,” Trump says of De La Hoya’s allegations, “I didn’t play with him. I have never played a round of golf with this guy.”
The boxer-turned-promoter hypes this weekend’s Canelo Alvarez-Amir Khan superfight in part by invoking Trump’s name, as Bob Arum did last month for his Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley card, often. A Mexican fighting a Muslim on Cinco De Mayo weekend, the Golden Boy reasons, makes for a perfect tie-in with Trump’s campaign to end illegal immigration. Bashing Trump makes sense for a promoter hoping to make dollars from Mexican fight fans.
“Golf is an important thing and I felt I had to say something,” Trump told journalists on Thursday of why he ignored his son’s advice not to respond to the charge. He followed this up with what might be termed in boxing parlance as a “low blow” by alluding to a gender-bending romp De La Hoya once enjoyed with a model. Trump said of not wanting to golf with De La Hoya, “I don’t like to play with men that wear stockings around their face.”