By Jason Kim: Former six division world champion Oscar De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KO’s) doesn’t plan on making a comeback, according to news from Dan Rafael on his twitter. Responding to rumors that the 37-year-old De La Hoya was considering making a comeback, Rafael says he asked De La Hoya if it were true about him thinking about coming back. However, De La Hoya said “No chance.”
Rafael said this about De La Hoya: “Then De La Hoya sent me a photo of him in a golf cart drinking a beer, asking if he looked like he was planning a comeback. He didn’t.”
De La Hoya hasn’t fought since being stopped by in the 8th round by Manny Pacquiao in December 2008. In hindsight, De La Hoya gave up too much by agreeing to fight Pacquiao at 147 instead of 154, which is the weight that De La Hoya had been fighting at. Oscar made things worse for himself by going on a strict diet to get down to the weight well before the fight and looked painfully thin a week before the bout. As thin as De La Hoya was in that fight, almost any welterweight in the top 15 would have likely beaten him. He was just far too weak to fight hard for more than one or two rounds. De La Hoya had lost three out of his last six fights going into the Pacquiao fight and was not the same fighter he once was in the 90s.
Despite getting older, De La Hoya is still likely good enough to beat some of the top fighters in the junior middleweight division. I’d give him an excellent chance of beating WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto and IBF champion Cornelius Bundradge. They would be tough fights for De La Hoya, but I think he’s still good enough to beat these guys. Cotto looks like he’s on his last leg and could go any day.
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