Oscar De La Hoya has revealed the one change that he wishes he could make in his storied professional career.
‘The Golden Boy’ enjoyed considerable success throughout the course of his tenure, which culminated in him winning multiple world titles across six weight divisions before his retirement.
De La Hoya remained unbeaten for the first 31 bouts of his career, defeating the likes of Pernell Whitaker, Hector Camacho and Julio Cesar Chavez Sr before suffering his first loss to Felix Trinidad in September of 1999.
In an interview with The Sweet Science, De La Hoya admitted that whilst he ‘wouldn’t change a thing’ about his boxing career, he revealed that he would opt to re-do the final three rounds of his clash with Trinidad.
“I wouldn’t change anything with my career or my life. Everything always happens for a reason. But if there was one fight that I could really change it would have to be the last three rounds when I boxed Felix Trinidad in 1999.
“For me, that was the biggest fight in non-heavyweight history at the time. And that fight was fairly easy for me but over the last three rounds I lost the fight. So if I could change anything from my career, it would have to be those last three rounds.”
Trinidad defeated De La Hoya via majority decision when they clashed for the unified WBC and IBF world welterweight titles at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.
A rematch between the duo had reportedly been discussed, although this never came to fruition as Trinidad opted to move up in weight shortly after, with fans left wondering about what exactly would have happened had they clashed for the second time following the controversy surrounding their first clash.
