De La Hoya sets comeback for July 3
Oscar De La Hoya, who has talked on and off about coming out of retirement for the past few years, made it official on Friday.
“July 3, I’m making my comeback,” De La Hoya announced, before he literally dropped the microphone and walked off stage in Las Vegas.
In the middle of a press conference to hype the Triller Fight Club pay-per-view card headlined by Jake Paul and Ben Askren on April 17, Triller Fight Club co-owner Snoop Dogg announced that a special guest was on hand.
De La Hoya came onto the stage and after some back and forth and encouragement from Snoop to tell folks why he was there, the Golden Boy made his comment and immediate left Snoop and host Al Bernstein to carry on the with the rest of the press conference.
De La Hoya, the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, which has a deal for its company’s fights to be on DAZN, will fight in the main event of a Triller pay-per-view. De La Hoya is not under a promotional deal with his own company so he has no network deal. Besides, given what Triller has been spending for its PPV events, the guarantee for De La Hoya figures to be enormous.
De La Hoya did not announce the venue, opponent or weight for the fight, although previously he has said he wanted to fight a legitimate foe.
During a recent interview with Fight Freaks Unite, De La Hoya said, “I’ve already started sparring. I am already down to 165. I feel good. We’ll see. We’re talking to various people from al over the world about venues and TV networks and things like that.”
De La Hoya, who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2014 in his first year of eligibility, won 10 world titles in a then-record six weight divisions. But he has not fought since Manny Pacquiao – the man who broke that record by winning titles in eight divisions – brutalized him in an eighth-round upset knockout loss in a welterweight fight on Dec. 6, 2008, more than 12 years ago.
De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs), 49, of Los Angeles, won a gold medal at the 1992 Olympics, which launched into the professional ranks, where he became the biggest star of his time. He set pay-per-view records and drew sellout crowds while winning world titles from junior lightweight to middleweight.
Photo: Golden Boy Promotions
Thinking this may not go well for Oscar.
Too old. Washed up by the Pacquaio fight. You can't beat anybody who's any good at your age. Nobody makes a comeback at 50 years old.