Where Does Mayweather’s Retirement Leave De La Hoya & Hatton?

By Aaron Klein: For Oscar De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs), today’s sudden retirement announcement by Floyd Mayweather Jr. couldn’t have come about at a worse time for him. De La Hoya, 35, had been a sheer three months away from his rematch with Mayweather in September, and it would have made a nice payday for the fading De La Hoya, who stated that he only wants to fight two more times. Light welterweight Ricky Hatton, 29, also had hoping to line up a rematch with Mayweather at some time in 2009, and had unfinished business with him due to Mayweather destroying in a 10th round blowout in December 2007.

Though Hatton has said that he was less concerned with money than getting revenge for the earlier defeat, the money that he would have likely made from a second bout with Mayweather had to be a substantial factor in his desire for a rematch. Now, however, both De La Hoya and Hatton find themselves out in the cold, without a big name fighter with the marquee value that Mayweather possess. That’s got to hurt, especially for De La Hoya, since he’s the one that had a fight set up for September.

All the same, neither Hatton or De La Hoya are exactly hurting for money in any way, but both would clearly like to make the kind of money ($10-20 million) that a bout with Mayweather would bring both of them. Never mind that neither fighter would have had a chance at beating Mayweather, the fighter considered by many to be the best in boxing, or even come close to beating him for that matter. Where does this leave Hatton and De La Hoya, then?

Somehow, I wonder if both Hatton and De La Hoya are better off without Mayweather. At least now they can fight it out amongst themselves and not worry about the prospect of being embarrassed by Mayweather, who destroy both of them with ease. De La Hoya, however, has said recently that he doesn’t want to fight Hatton, and in a fatherly type of way, suggesting to him that he stay in the junior welterweight division (140 lbs) and not considering moving up to the welterweight division anymore. This was, however, before Mayweather suddenly announced his retirement. Today’s boxing news, though, probably will go a long way in changing De La Hoya’s mind about not wanting to fight Hatton. Unless I miss my guess, De La Hoya will immediately turn his attention to Hatton and come right out and begin planning for a fight with him.

De La Hoya’s alternative, a fight with welterweight Miguel Cotto, is much less appealing for De La Hoya, for he’d be badly beaten by Cotto, and would very likely get knocked out. A loss of that kind at this stage in De La Hoya’s fading career would be almost fatal for him, something that he could ill afford to have happen. Because of this, I’m guessing that we’ll be seeing a change of tune by De La Hoya about Hatton. The best part for De La Hoya, though, is that he could probably beat Hatton without too much trouble, which is something that would enable De La Hoya to take the bout without much risk of damage to his boxing legacy.

Afterwards, De La Hoya would still be free to take a risky fight against someone like Cotto, and end his career with that fight. As for Hatton, his fans would be very interested in seeing him fight De La Hoya, perhaps even more so than Mayweather, since Hatton has never fought De La Hoya and the fans would be giving him a better chance at winning given De La Hoya’s ripe age. Even if Hatton loses, his fans would stick by his side and point out the huge disparity in weight as the reason for Hatton’s loss to De La Hoya.