By Jason Kim: Oscar De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KO’s) says he doesn’t plan on coming out of retirement, and that he will be moving from Puerto Rico to Los Angeles to be closer to his company Golden Boy Promotions, according to the Daily news. De La Hoya is said to be happy in retirement, and still somewhat in shock that he’s not competing anymore, saying “I still say to myself, ‘wow, I’m not fighting ever again.”
De La Hoya feels that he could still compete against good fighters but that he doesn’t have the physical tools anymore to fight against the best in boxing at this point in his life. Not one to accept facing less than the best in the game, De La Hoya would rather stay retired than come back and fight less than top notch fighters.
De La Hoya, 36, was stopped in the 8th round by Manny Pacquiao in December 2008 in an embarrassingly one-sided loss to the Filipino star. The defeat was entirely unexpected as was the un-competitiveness of the fight, as De La Hoya was thought to be too big for Pacquiao and was predicted to be the winner by many boxing scribes.
Rather than continue on with his career, De La Hoya decided to hang up the gloves and focus all his attention on his successful promotional company. The move made sense from a practical stand point because De La Hoya had largely lost his effectiveness in the ring years earlier and had lost three out of his last six fights before facing Pacquiao in 2008 with one of De La Hoya’s victories being a controversial 12 round decision over Felix Sturm, a fight that many people felt was a loss for De La Hoya.
However, it was a case of De La Hoya moving up to middleweight, a division that De La Hoya seemed too small to compete in effectively.
Allan Green Wants Bout With Carl Froch
Super middleweight contender Allan Green (28-1, 20 KO’s) is aiming to get a fight with WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (25-0, 20 KO’s), and is calling Froch out. It might be easier said than done, however, because Froch has other options available for him at this time starting with a potential unification bout against IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute.
Green, 29, ranked number #6 in the WBC super middleweight division, recently defeated Carlos De Leon Jr. by a 2nd round knockout on April 25th, on the same card as the clash between Jermain Taylor and Froch. Green hasn’t faced anyone of note since being defeated by Edison Miranda by a 10-round decision in March 2007.
In that fight, Green fought passively for most of the fight and was knocked down twice by Miranda in the 10th round. Green has turned his career around since that loss, recording five impressive wins in a row with four of them coming by knockout.
The competition hasn’t been the greatest but Green has still looked awesome in beating them. Green’s boxing skills and hand speed have never been the question about him. It’s his chin, which seemed to fail him in the 10th against Miranda. Froch punches nearly as hard as Miranda and this would be a big test for Green if Froch does opt to fight him.
It’s doubtful, however, that Froch will decide on a clash with Green at this point because there are bigger options for Froch at this time.
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