After Oscar De La Hoya was dominated in his last fight against Manny Pacquiao, the 36-year-old sought out former trainer Freddie Roach – who now works with Pacquiao – in the ring afterward.
“I don’t have it any more,” said De La Hoya, who won world titles in five weight classes.
While he said in postfight interviews that he didn’t know if he would continue his career after the Pacquiao beatdown, he’s made it official now: De La Hoya is retiring.
“Boxing is my passion, boxing is what I was born to do,” De La Hoya said at a downtown Los Angeles news conference on April 14. “And when I can’t do it any more, when I can’t compete at the highest level, it’s not fair. It’s not fair to me, it’s not fair to the fans, it’s not fair to nobody. I’ve come to the conclusion that’s over, it’s over inside the ring for me.
De La Hoya’s standout career
His fans – and the sport of boxing, which always benefited from a De La Hoya fight because of his immense popularity – will miss him.
The Mexican-American fighter brought home a gold medal in the 1992 Olympics and then won the first 31 fights of his professional career, knocking off such notable fighters as John John Molina, Rafael Ruelas, Miguel Angel Gonzalez and Jesse James Leija. But his career really blasted off when he bested Pernell Whitaker, Hector Camacho and Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez (De La Hoya beat Chavez twice).
De La Hoya vs. Fernando Vargas
He lost a majority decision to Felix Trinidad in a fight De La Hoya probably should have won in September 1999 – he always kicked himself for allowing Trinidad the comeback victory – and he fell twice to Shane Mosley.
But perhaps the most-exciting victory of his career came in September 2002 when he met a trash-talking opponent in Fernando Vargas and stopped him in the 11th round. It was the last big win of his career.
De La Hoya loses to Mayweather, Pacquiao
De La Hoya, who runs Golden Boy Promotions, lost two of his final three fights to boxers who are smaller than him, but those defeats occurred to the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world and generated huge paydays for everybody involved. After falling to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Pacquiao, though, De La Hoya decided he didn’t have it any more.
It was not an easy decision.
“Knowing that you’re never going to compete again is a tough decision, but now I am looking forward to the future of boxing,” De La Hoya said. “When I cannot compete at this level, I have come to the conclusion that it is over.”
