Oscar De La Hoya making a COMEBACK at 160

By Boxing News - 06/23/2020 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: The original ‘Golden Boy’ Oscar De La Hoya has just announced that he’s thinking of coming out of retirement for a big fight at 160 against a top-level fighter. The 47-year-old former six-division world champion De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs) says he wants to delay making his decision on coming back until after he sees what 54-year-old former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson looks like with his own comeback.

Tyson has impressed boxing fans with the video clips of his workouts, and apparently, De La Hoya has become motivated by watching him. Oscar says he plans to check out what ‘Iron Mike’ Tyson’s reflexes look like for his exhibition match, and then he’ll go from there to decide on his own career.

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It’s been 12 years since De La Hoya last fought in losing to a younger Manny Pacquiao by an eighth-round stoppage on December 6, 2008. For that fight, De La Hoya drained himself in coming down from 154 to a catchweight of 145 pounds, and he looked like a living zombie on the night.

Unlike some fighters that drain 10 to 20 pounds of water weight the week of the fight, and then rehydrate to enjoy size advantage, De La Hoya lost actual muscle weight and looking thin. There was no chance that De La Hoya, then 35, could deal with a prime Pacquiao, who was moving up to welterweight and was strong at the weight.

Image: Oscar De La Hoya making a COMEBACK at 160

De La Hoya thinking of coming back

“I think coming back for charity is awesome,” said De La Hoya to RingTV on Mike Tyson coming back. “Maybe,” said Oscar when asked if he might come back. “I actually want to see what Tyson does first. And I have been working out, and I have been training and I have been staying in shape.

I would really come back. I’m really considering it. It doesnt matter, anyone who is the best out there,” said De La Hoya when asked who he’ll fght. “I still have that mentality. It would be at 160. No,” Oscar said in response to a question about him fighting Canelo Alvarez.

It’s a good move for De La Hoya to come out of retirement right now, as a lot of older fighters are training to return to the ring. The money that De La Hoya can make in his comeback, he can use to feed into his Golden Boy Promotions company. De La Hoya can sign a lot of great fighters with the money he makes with his comeback fight.

De La Hoya needs to lose a lot of weight because he’s out of shape, but his job won’t be as hard as some of the fighters that comeback. Oscar isn’t obese the way Tyson Fury was when he returned to the ring in 2018 after a long absence.

These are some great options for De La Hoya to fight:

  • Floyd Mayweather Jr
  • Manny Pacquiao
  • Errol Spence
  • Keith Thurman

Oscar wants a top guy at 147

“If it’s at 154, then maybe someone coming up from 147. A top guy at 147. No, like a real fight. If you look at my last fight against Manny Pacquiao, I fought at 160 and came all the way back down to 147 to try and beat Pacquiao, who was just comng up and was faster than hell, right?

I just couldn’t pull the trigger because I overtrained and my muscles were so lean, and I was a walking zombie when I walked into the ring. I still have reflexes, and I go to the gym every so often and I can still beat anyone I step in the ring with,” said De La Hoya.

Although De La Hoya didn’t say it, the logical fight for him in his comeback is Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather Jr. Those are both welterweights, and rematches against either of those guys would make De La Hoya MASSIVE money. We’re talking a considerable amount of green that Oscar can make fighting Pacquiao or Mayweather.

According to Celebrity Net worth, De La Hoya’s net worth is $200 million. Fighting Mayweather or Pacquiao would add to De La Hoya’s colossal fortune.

De La Hoya isn’t a natural 154 or 160-pounder, so it doesn’t make sense for him to fight any of those guys. Besides, no one is popular in those weight classes other than Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez. GGG’s star has faced, so he’s no longer a good option for Oscar. Canelo is one of De La Hoya’s fighters in his Golden Boy stable, and he’s already said he won’t fight him.

Image: Oscar De La Hoya making a COMEBACK at 160

Floyd Mayweather Sr the trainer De La Hoya wants

“So we’ll see. I would consider a Floyd Sr once again,” said De La Hoya when asked who he would use as his trainer for his come back. “Floyd Mayweather Sr is the best trainer out there for me if I ever do come back.”

Floyd Sr trained De La Hoya during the last portion of his boxing career, and he helped him. De La Hoya lost two out of his last three fights before retiring from the sport.

It’s not surprising that Oscar finished in the way he did because he was a part-time fighter at that point. He wasn’t staying busy the way he had earlier. For example, after De La Hoya’s loss to Bernard Hopkins in 2014, he didn’t fight again until 2016 when he returned against Ricardo Mayorga.

Oscar then stayed out of the ring for 12 months until coming back against Floyd Mayweather Jr, and he lost a close 12 round decision against him. That was a winnable fight for De La Hoya if he’s stayed active, but he slacked off after making so much money. After the Mayweather fight, De Hoya stayed out of the ring for another year until coming back against Steve Forbes, who he beat in May 2008.

Oscar to wait on Mike Tyson

“Obviously, not in fighting shape yet to go 12 rounds but I’m sure I can get there. We’ll see.,” said De La Hoya.” I want to see Tyson perform. [I want to] see how his reflexes are, see if he can go past three, four rounds. Then I’ll make my decision.”

De La Hoya shouldn’t base his decision on his comeback on how Mike Tyson looks because they’re two different people. Tyson still has his reflexes and hand speed, and he’s lost a lot of weight in training. For his part, De La Hoya hasn’t started training yet, and he has no idea what his own reflexes are going to be like when he starts working out.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time that De La Hoya has considered coming out of retirement. Several years ago, De La Hoya was thinking of returning to the ring with hopes of facing middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin.

At the time, Golovkin was the #1 fighter in the 160-pound weight class and was knocking everyone out. But after De La Hoya consulted with his family, he changed his mind and decided not to return to the ring, which left a lot of disappointed boxing fans.

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