By Sean Jones: Mikey Garcia says he’s not excited about the prospect of 48-year-old Oscar De La Hoya coming back to fight an exhibition match on pay-per-view on July 3rd. The 33-year-old Mikey sees it as entertainment that De La Hoya will be supplying but without any meaning.
Mikey notes that the former six-division world champion De La Hoya’s best years were behind him 20 years ago, and he doesn’t see any point in him returning to the ring now.
De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs) hasn’t fought since 2008, but he says he wants to take on a top boxer. However, he’s rumored to be facing a big name from the UFC. Some believe it’ll be Conor McGregor that faces De La Hoya in the main event on July 3 in a Triller card.
De La Hoya hasn’t said what his rationale is for coming back to fight exhibition bouts, but it could be that money is the overriding factor.
With the millions that De La Hoya can make in his exhibition matches, he can use that revenue to his promotional company Golden Boy Promotions humming along for years. They recently lost Canelo Alvarez, their premier fighter in the Golden Boy stable.
Lightweight Ryan Garcia is supposed to be the next big star for them, but his career looks shaky with him only wanting to fight two guys, Manny Pacquiao and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
“His best time was 20-something years ago. If they want to do it again as entertainment, go for it, have fine with it,” said Mikey Garcia to Fighthype on Oscar De La Hoya’s comeback exhibition fight on July 3rd.
“If people buy it, don’t be disappointed if you don’t get what you expect,” Mikey continued about the 48-year-old De La Hoya’s fight. “Buy into it because you know it’s just entertainment.
“Am I excited about it? No. But if he wants to do it, go for it, have fun with it, but people don’t expect too much either. It’s too late now. It’s a lot different now. A lot of fans are starving for any type of entertainment.
Last year everything was closed and shut down. It just seems like people are thirsty and hungry for any type of entertainment, any type of sporting event. Maybe it is a good time for these exhibitions because people will watch, people will buy into it,” said Mikey.
It’s interesting to hear the negative attitude that Mikey has towards De La Hoya coming back because it seems harmless.
What you got to like about De La Hoya is his willingness to stay active, and not just sit around buying cars all the time, talking about them. De La Hoya got a lot more out of his career than Mikey has despite retiring young at 34.
He’s frittered away some of his best years since 2018 by not being active, fighting in a weight division that is above his small 5’6″ frame, and not seeming to be interested in boxing.
Looking at Mikey’s videos on Youtube, it’s clear that his focus is on cars, and it’s unclear what that does for him. Boxing is where Mikey has made his money over the years and seems to be focusing on the wrong thing now.
“I would never fight [a Youtuber] because he doesn’t deserve to be in the ring with a fighter of my caliber,” Mikey said. “I don’t think any world champion that is serious about their career would want to get in the ring with someone like that, a YouTuber or social media influencer, or whatever you want to call them.
“I don’t think they deserve to be in the ring. If we’re doing an exhibition for a fundraiser or if we’re doing a charity, it’s different. I’m all for that because I know it’s for a good cause and it’s going to help people,” said Mikey.