Oscar De La Hoya has revealed his thoughts on what would have happened if he faced Floyd Mayweather in a rematch.
‘The Golden Boy’ put his WBC light middleweight title on the line against Mayweather back in May 2007, in what was one of the most highly anticipated contests of that era. Billed as ‘The World Awaits’, the bout took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
‘Money’ Mayweather outpointed De La Hoya after 12 close rounds, picking up a split decision victory and capturing the WBC title at 154lbs. It was the 38th consecutive win for the retired American superstar, who would go on to remain undefeated for the rest of his glittering career.
Speaking to Club Shay Shay, ‘The Golden Boy’ revealed that he had signed for a second fight but Mayweather found a way around it.
“Well, this is something that the world doesn’t know and I’m gonna actually say it now. We had a rematch for a year, contractually. Guess what Floyd did? He retired for a year and one day. The contraxt expired.”
He then gave an honest response after being asked if he could have got his revenge over Mayweather in the rematch.
“No, no. My body was breaking down. My body was over it, that was the last straw. I felt it in the 7th and 8th round because my jab is my weapon, I throw my jab and nobody can beat me and I just couldn’t throw it so it was over, my body was breaking down. I fought [Manny] Pacquiao and I was a dead man walking.”
De La Hoya’s 45th and final outing came against Manny Pacquiao in December 2008, suffering an eighth round stoppage against ‘Pac-Man’.
He drew the curtain on his career shortly after this defeat, walking away from the sport having won world titles in six weight divisions.
