Oscar De La Hoya has revealed who he believes is the greatest fighter to have ever laced up the gloves.
Known as ‘The Golden Boy’, De La Hoya began his professional career back in 1992 just months after he captured an Olympic Gold medal at the Barcelona games of the same year.
Throughout the course of his tenure, De La Hoya captured world titles across six weight classes, ranging from super-featherweight to middleweight, defeating the likes of Ike Quartey, Arturo Gatti and Julio Cesar Chavez.
Despite his success, it wasn’t entirely straightforward for De La Hoya, who suffered a number of defeats during his career, falling short against the likes of Manny Pacquiao, Bernard Hopkins and Floyd Mayweather. Despite that, his place in the Hall of Fame is unquestioned. Who does he think, of his peers, is the best to ever do it?
In an interview with ES News, De La Hoya didn’t hesitate to name the legendary Sugar Ray Robinson as the greatest fighter of all time in his opinion, overlooking the likes of Muhammad Ali and former rival Mayweather, who both made very public claims to the throne.
“Sugar Ray Robinson is the greatest of all time! That’s basically it … all the weight divisions, hardest puncher, best footwork, he would fight multiple times a month, took on the very best, took on the toughest challenges. Sugar Ray Robinson, he’s literally the GOAT.”
Throughout the course of his glittering 201-fight professional career, Robinson won the world championship six times, reigning as the welterweight champion between 1946 and 1951 before he eventually made the move up to middleweight.
He held the middleweight championship on six occasions between 1951 and 1960, defeating the legendary Rocky Graziano and Jake LaMotta during this period before he eventually called time on his career in 1965.
