Oscar De La Hoya has revealed the one fight he knew he couldn’t win despite calling for it.
‘The Golden Boy’ transitioned into the professional ranks at the end of 1992, shortly after he earned himself an Olympic Gold Medal in Barcelona just a few months earlier.
His decade and a half long career saw him capture world titles across six weight classes, picking up legacy defining victories over a number of the greatest fighters of that era including Ike Quartey, Pernell Whitaker and Julio Cesar Chavez.
Despite his dominance, De La Hoya suffered defeats on six occasions throughout his tenure, with one of those losses coming against retired pound-for-pound superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr, who outpointed ‘The Golden Boy’ to capture his WBC light middleweight title when they clashed back in May 2007.
In an interview with Club Shay Shay, De La Hoya spoke honestly about his chances of beating Mayweather in a rematch, which he called for and was due to take place exactly one year on from their first encounter.
“No, no [I couldn’t beat him in the rematch]. 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.”
The rematch never materialised and ‘The Golden Boy’ returned to the ring 12-months later, defeating Steve Forbes via unanimous decision in a 12-round non-title showdown in California.
The 45th and final bout of his professional tenure came against Manny Pacquiao 7-months later, although he would suffer a stoppage loss to ‘Pac-Man’, going on to draw the curtain on his glittering career shortly after.
