While former six weight champion Oscar De La Hoya is training to make an eventual return to the professional ranks after a thirteen year hiatus, the “Golden Boy” has expressed interest in a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
De La Hoya, now 48, is fighting in an exhibition match on September 11th against former UFC fighter Vitor Belfort, capitalising on the current trend of former boxing stars of yesteryear returning to make a quick buck. It is expected that De La Hoya will then fight professionally, although that could largely depend on how the September fight transpires.
“I want to make the biggest comeback in boxing history,” De La Hoya said on Badlefthook.com. “I want to get two of these fights down under my belt, and get the timing ready and everything, and then my third one, I want to call out Floyd Mayweather.”
“I think Floyd after that exhibition he did with with Logan Paul, I think Floyd has — I think he’s feeling like he has to prove something once again inside the boxing ring. So look, if I come out OK, my body feels great — I’m telling you, my jab feels faster than ever. I think it’s the 15 years I didn’t use it. If I feel good these next two fights that I have, I’m going to call out Floyd.”
I have to say that I am doubtful that Floyd Mayweather feels like he has to prove anything. He has always targeted any opponent that has great revenue potential. And Logan Paul, as farcical as it sounds, carries that promise right now. And with Mayweather v Paul being just an exhibition fight, I am sure that Floyd thought that it was going to be one of the easiest nights he has ever had in making a ton of money. And judging by the way it all panned out that looked to be mostly the case.
We have seen so many boxers who have seen better days return to fighting again and then regretting the consequences of their decisions many times, so I am not going to talk about why I think it would be a bad idea for Oscar De La hoya to fight professionally again. We should know the likelihood of De La Hoya making a successful comeback. But if he wants to stick with mainly campaigning in exhibition matches then I don’t see much of an issue with that.
Could De La Hoya tempt Mayweather into having a rematch?
I think he could, especially if his two comeback fights generate a lot of interest and money. The match with Bitor Belfort will be on PPV and it could very well be something that Mayweather may find hard to walk away from if the numbers are impressive.
