Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya, 47-years-old, is the latest retired boxer to discuss the possibility of a ring return.
De La Hoya, a former six division world champion, has been out of the ring since December of 2008 – when he was dominated and stopped in a one-sided fight with Manny Pacquiao.
He walked away with respectable record of 39-6 with 30 wins by knockout.
In the last few months, heavyweights Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield have dominated the headlines with their ongoing chatter of taking part in exhibition fights to raise money for charity.
Tyson, 53-years-old, has been releasing training footage on a regular basis.
While fighters like Tyson and Holyfield are discussing exhibitions, De La Hoya is mulling the idea of a sanctioned fight.
“I actually want to see what Tyson does first,” De La Hoya said to The Ring. “I have been working out, I have been training, I have been staying in shape. Obviously, I’m not in fighting shape yet to go twelve rounds. I’m sure I could get there. We’ll see. I want to see Tyson perform, see how his reflexes are, see if he can go past three or four rounds. We’ll see and then I’ll make my decision.”
And De La Hoya makes it clear that he’s very serious.
If he actually returned to the ring, De La Hoya says he’s willing to fight anyone and everyone, suggesting that he’d likely be back at the middleweight limit.
“I’m really considering it. It doesn’t matter [who I fight]. Anybody, anybody who is the best out there. I still have that mentality. It would be at 160 [for the weight]. If it’s at 154, maybe someone coming up from 147. Any top, top, top guy at 147. It doesn’t really matter,” De La Hoya said.
It’s not the first time where De La Hoya pondered the idea of a comeback.
Back in 2012, De La Hoya was also discussing the idea of a ring return. He later admitted that he walked away from that plan after a few days of training. He became concerned when his body did not react as he expected from resuming a heavy workload of training.
–BOXINGSCENE.COM
