De La Hoya Striking Out

Oscar De La Hoya, the CEO of the promotional outfit Golden Boy, has had big run of bad luck as of late with losses of fighters Shane Mosley, who was defeated recently by Miguel Cotto, Marco Antonio Barrera, who was easily defeated by Manny Pacquiao, once again, and De La Hoya himself, in his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr earlier this year. There’s not much to look forward for De La Hoya, the promoter, in terms of immediate wins in the near future. Bernard Hopkins, another one of Golden Boy’s fighters and also a manager in the company, has been playing cat and mouse with super middleweight Joe Calzaghe.

Even if Hopkins should come to his senses and decide on fighting Calzaghe, he only has a remote chance of beating Joe. More likely, Hopkins will be soundly defeated, perhaps even stopped, thus giving Golden Boy yet another loss. Mosley, 36, is getting up there in age, and has said that he plans on retiring. If he does decide on continuing with his career, I don’t like his chances against any of the top welterweights at this time. Antonio Margarito, Kermit Cintron, Miguel Cotto and Paul Williams would appear to be too strong, young and talented for Mosley at this stage of his career. For that reason, I think Mosely will go through with his hint of retirement, and hang up the boxing gloves.

One of the few prospects that Golden Boy has is bantamweight Abner Mares. However, he’s still very young and has a ways to go before he can challenge for a title. It’s unclear whether the former Mexican Olympian has the stuff to win a title, because he takes a lot punishment in his bouts, and he’s been far from dominating while beating lower level fighters on his way up. I don’t see him staying on top for long, should he actually win a title, because he doesn’t have a lot of power and is forced to win in battles of attrition.