Former boxing champions Floyd Mayweather (right) and Oscar dela Hoya pose in 2011. AP
Oscar De La Hoya is not only convinced that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will come out of retirement, the Golden Boy Promotions chief also sees the former pound-for-pound king fighting for multiple times.
Mayweather himself had stressed countless times that he has no plans of returning after officially announcing his retirement following his lopsided win over Andre Berto two months ago in Las Vegas.
But De La Hoya, who has been exchanging jabs with Mayweather in the past several days, firmly believes that fans haven’t seen the last of the former unified welterweight champion yet.
De La Hoya, a six-division world champion during his days as a professional boxer, is also not discounting a second bout between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
“No [I don’t believe he’ll stay retired], not at all. I strongly believe that he will fight a few more times. Not just once, but a couple of more times. I think he will wait until next year, maybe do the rematch with Pacquiao and then we’ll see what happens,” De La Hoya, who lost a controversial split decision to Mayweather in 2005, told Bloomberg as posted on BoxingScene.com.
De La Hoya also took a swipe at Mayweather, who is also known for his ostentation, for fighting just for financial reasons.
“It’s all business for Mayweather. That’s all it is. His team…that’s the difference between our fight here on November 21st [between Cotto and Canelo]…it’s about passion, it’s about the fans, it’s about doing the best fight possible and that’s what the fighters will do inside the ring – is give you a war. It is about the business [for us as well], but it’s about the fight first,” De La Hoya said.
“[For Mayweather] it’s all about money. Low risk, high reward. And for us here, we’re not naive here – we want to make money, but its all about making sure the fans are happy.”