Oscar De La Hoya: The Return of the Golden Boy
By Stuart Gracey
In a recent interview, the Detroit warrior Cornelius “K-9” Bundrage called for “The Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya to come out of retirement and meet him in the ring.
In recent months Bundrage has called out a lot of fighters in and around his weight class including Shane Mosley and Miguel Cotto but in calling out Oscar De La Hoya, I have to ask myself, does he know something we don’t?
Is De La Hoya about to lace the gloves up one last time?
Oscar certainly has had a very colorful career; his amateur career was a distinguished one with 223 wins, 163 by knockout, with only five losses.
In 1989, he won the National Golden Gloves title in the bantamweight division. In 1990, at the age of 17, he won the U.S. National Championship at featherweight and was the youngest U.S. boxer at that year’s Goodwill Games, winning a gold medal. At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona De La Hoya defeated Marco Rudolph of Germany to win gold and become the only boxer from team USA to take home a medal from Barcelona.
As a professional De La Hoya 39–6, 30 KO’s, has won 10 world titles in 6 different weight classes and has defeated 17 world champions. He has also generated more money than any other boxer in the history of the sport, coming close to the $700 million dollar mark in Pay Per View income.
After retiring from the sport for good De La Hoya has worked with his promotional company Golden Boy Promotions and has made some of the biggest boxing matches in the last few years. One has to wonder what would tempt Oscar back into the ring.
One theory is his unquestionable love for the sport.
After his last fight with current pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao, Oscar said in his post fight interview “My heart still wants to fight, that’s for sure. But when your physical doesn’t respond, what can you do? I have to be smart and make sure I think about my future plans.”
This quote shows that the game is still in his heart and means a lot to him and maybe he would still be able to compete, just not at the very top with Mayweather and Pacquiao.
Also, if Oscar were to return to the ring it would undoubtedly sell like the proverbial hot cake as all his fights did. This meaning yet another big pay day for one nights work for De La Hoya.
If De La Hoya were to come back there are more than a few possible opponents that could stand in the opposite corner and make for an intriguing fight. One is obviously the man who called him out Cornelius “K-9” Bundrage, however I think that Oscar would be looking for a bigger name to make his comeback against.
One name that immediately springs to mind is “Sugar” Shane Mosley. Mosley 46-6-1, 39 KO’s, and 1 no contest, has hit a crossroads in his career. After the one-sided defeat to Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Mosley went up against Sergio Mora which ended in a split draw. The fight was criticized for not being crowd pleasing and many people have been calling for Mosley to retire since that bout.
Mosley has no intention of doing so and a third fight with De La Hoya would be a ratings winner and could put Mosley back on the map. The incentive is also there for Oscar as he would be looking for retribution over his two previous losses in which Mosley later admitted to taking PED’s in the lead up too although he has denied knowing what they were at the time.
Another name that would maybe be interested in a future big name fight with De La Hoya is Ricky Hatton.
It has been well published that the “Hitman” 45-2, 32 KO’s, is currently recovering from substance abuse to tackle a drink and depression problem. However if this big money bout were to be offered to him surely he wouldn’t be able to turn it down. With Wembley Arena being a possible venue would there be any better way for Hatton to say goodbye to his fans and the sport?
The one thing that would maybe discourage Oscar from making this decision would be his last fight against Manny Pacquiao. The Golden Boy was completely out-boxed and battered at the hands of the PacMan and surely he will be wondering if he still has anything left to give. I would say he does.
As any boxing fan knows, he killed himself to get down to 147 (a weight he hadn’t been in years). Freddie Roach actually said he saw IV marks on De La Hoya’s arm, pointing out that he needed to be rehydrated surgically as a last resort.
If Oscar De La Hoya were to return, even if for one final fight, it would be a great thing for the sport. After the huge disappointment that boxing fans the world over have felt following the second breakdown of negotiations for the fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao, the news that the Golden Boy was making a comeback would give everybody involved with the sport a huge lift.
Debates would go on about weather he still had enough to give in the ring but at least we would be talking about something different rather than the previously mentioned broken down negotiations.
Every De La Hoya fan would buy the fight at watch to see if their hero still has what it takes to swap punches with the best of them.