By Jeff Aranow: Former 6 division world champion Oscar ‘Golden Boy’ De La Hoya says he’s still training and he’d like to fight again. De La Hoya thinks Floyd Mayweather Jr. has no interest in fighting him.
The two fighters battled 10 years ago in 2007 with Mayweather winning a 12 round split decision. De La Hoya was unable to get a rematch with Mayweather. The rematch would have made Mayweather a ton of money. Instead, he opted to fight Ricky Hatton in late 2007.
De La Hoya recently called out Conor McGregor for a fight, but he’s not heard anything from him. McGregor is still under contract with the UFC. So, if De La Hoya is interested in fighting him, he’s going to need to talk with UFC president Dana White. It’s unlikely De La Hoya will have much luck getting White to agree to put that fight together. McGregor hasn’t fought in the UFC since November of last year. He hasn’t retired yet. It’s unclear what he’s doing to do.
“I’m serious, I’m still training,” said De La Hoya to ESPN Deportes. ”We’ll see what’s going to happen, I’m still training. Mayweather throws me away, and it’s obvious that the rematch is not happening. I’m still open to a possible comeback. With Mayweather it will not be. He does not like to fight real fighters,” said De La Hoya.
If Mayweather has no other options available to him for big money fights, then maybe he could be coaxed into it by De La Hoya. Given that those 2 fighters aren’t close, it’s going to be hard for De La Hoya to talk Mayweather into fighting hi a second time.
Mayweather probably doesn’t see a fight between him and the 44-year-old De La Hoya as a worthwhile match to take. It would be a contest that would be seen as an old timer’s bout by a lot of boxing fans, that’s not the type of fight that Mayweather likely would be interested in. If Mayweather is going to continue to fight, he’s better off fighting guys that are younger than him and on the top of their games.
De La Hoya has been out of commission since he stepped away from the sport after his 8th round knockout loss to Manny Pacquiao 9 years ago in 2008. De La Hoya was only 35-years-old at the time. He could have easily come back and found someone from the 154lb. division to fight him.