De La Hoya says he’ll fight Mayweather-Golovkin winner

By Boxing News - 06/22/2015 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: After saying last week that he’ll never ever return to the ring to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a rematch, 42-year-old former six division world champion Oscar De La Hoya has seemingly changed his tune. De La Hoya now says that he’ll only make a comeback to fight the winner of a fight between Mayweather and WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golokvin, if such a fight like that were to happen.

As of now, Mayweather says he has no interest in fighting Golovkin, so it looks like De La Hoya is off the hook for having to fight the winner of a Mayweather-Golovkin fight.

Mayweather said that he’s wrapping up his career right now, but if he did fight Golovkin, he’s confident that he would beat him.

De La Hoya would have made a great deal of money if he were to come back and fight Mayweather in September. He would actually make more money fighting Mayweather than if he were to fight Golovkin. It wouldn’t matter if Golovkin beat Mayweather or not. Golovkin could defeat Mayweather, but the bigger money fight for De La Hoya would still be against Mayweather. That’s why it makes no sense for De La Hoya to say that he’d fight the winner of the Mayweather vs. Golovkin fight, because De La Hoya already has the opportunity right now to make huge money in a fight against an unbeaten Mayweather in September.

“So I hear Floyd wants to give me a rematch now. Our first fight had a rematch clause. It had to take place within the year. He retired a year and one day,” De La Hoya said. “Look, I’m retired, I’m happy, I’m content. I’m never coming back. I’m gonna continue growing Golden Boy.”

De La Hoya’s decision not to want to fight Mayweather in September comes across as a weak move by De La Hoya, and also not a smart decision. When you’ve got a potential payday of $10 million+ staring you in the face, how do you say no to a fight like that? The chances are that De La Hoya would fold within six rounds or less against Mayweather at this point. The beating wouldn’t last very long for De La Hoya, and he could walk away with a lot of extra spending money from such a fight. With Golden Boy Promotions being involved in the promotion for such a fight, it would be a win-win situation for Golden boy and De La Hoya.

De La Hoya hasn’t fought in seven year since his loss to Manny Pacquiao in 2008. In 2007, De La Hoya lost a 12 round decision to Mayweather. It was a winnable fight for De La Hoya, but he made the stupid mistake of trying to punch with Mayweather in the 2nd half of the fight. This enabled Mayweather to counter De La Hoya with punches and win a close decision. De La Hoya expressed interest in facing Mayweather in a rematch, but that interest disappeared after De La Hoya was beaten by Pacquiao in 2008.



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