By: Hans Themistode
With Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. set to end their retirement to face one another, Oscar De La Hoya has been quietly working on his own comeback. The former six-division world titlist announced his intentions to pick up the boxing gloves once again after being push through the retirement door by Manny Pacquiao in 2008.
On the night, De La Hoya, a 2-1 favorite, was outboxed thoroughly before getting pummeled in the eighth round. Shortly after his defeat, De La Hoya would announce his retirement.
Up until recently, the former Olympic gold medalist appeared perfectly content as the head man of Golden Boy Promotions as he helped push the next generation of stars. Yet, with many of his contemporaries announcing comebacks after long hiatuses, De La Hoya did the same.
An opponent for the 2014 hall of famer was non-existent. With that being said, De La Hoya did express a desire to compete against the best at either 154 or 160 pounds. At the moment, Gennadiy Golovkin (GGG) would fit into that criteria. He currently holds the IBF world title and has always been viewed as one of the biggest punchers in all of boxing. Although he has mostly annihilated everyone in his path, De La Hoya believes he would make it look easy against him, even at the age of 47.
“You know how easy GGG would be for me?” said De La Hoya to Boxingscene.com. “Oh my gosh. It would be a high-profile fight, that’s for sure. I always took a good shot and I always took apart fighters like him. In my mind, it would be that easy. I would definitely consider it.”
Before Golovkin can even consider tangling with De La Hoya, he will have to get past mandatory challenger Kamil Szeremeta on December 18th. Should the Kazakhstan star pick up the win, he will be all alone in middleweight history as a victory would represent his 21st title defense, a middleweight record.
Still, even if Golovkin does what most expect, which is to win dominantly, the long time belt holder could be on the cusp of his third contest with Canelo Alvarez in March of 2021.
