Oscar de la Hoya (38-3, 30 KOs) wants to get back in the ring in early 2008 against a fighter that “doesn’t run,” he says, possibly taking a swipe at Floyd Mayweather Jr., who recently defeated De la Hoya by 12-round split decision in May 2007, in a fight that Mayweather employed his usual hit and run fighting style, causing De la Hoya to become very frustrated late in the fight as he attempted to engage him. De la Hoya, 34, plans on moving back down to the welterweight division, fighting there for the first time in seven years since beating Arturo Gatti in 2001.
It’s unclear why De la Hoya has opted to move back down to the welterweight division, but one can only guess that it’s because he has his eye on someone in particular, likely Kermit Cintron or Ricky Hatton. Though Hatton fights as a super lightweight, he has formerly fought as a welterweight, albeit not very effectively, for a short period of time and would have no qualms about gaining a little weight to fight De la Hoya at that weight, especially if it meant that he was going to get a huge mult-million dollar pay day in the process. His reputation, however, will be a little tarnished by them, considering that Hatton will have already fought – and lost badly – to Mayweather by then, but that matters little to most of the public, who don’t care how many times some of their heros lose.
Just as long as they fight bravely and go down swinging, that’s all that counts with most fans. However, with De la Hoya not committing to any fighter as of yet in the welterweight division, it leaves a little guessing as to who the next opponent will be. Lets give it a start, shall we? First of all, De la Hoya won’t fight anyone that doesn’t have a lot of clout, because he doesn’t want to get beat by an up and coming fighter, even though there’s more than a few that could probably beat him at this point in the welterweight division.
The main things is that the fighters good, because if he beats De la Hoya ( a high probability), it won’t make him look as bad. Plus, if De la Hoya somehow defeats his high quality opponent, he’ll look especially good given his ripe age of 34 (it’ll be 35 by the time he next fights).