FILE — scar De La Hoya looks on with his trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. from his corner against Steve Forbes during their junior middleweight bout at the Home Depot Center on May 3, 2008 in Carson, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
MANILA, Philippines — Oscar De La Hoya is not only planning a comeback, he wants a reunion to come with it as well.
De La Hoya is serious about making his return in the ring after hanging up his gloves in 2009 and if he does decide to unretire, the former six-division boxing champion wants his former training Floyd Mayweather Sr. in his corner.
“The only person that comes to mind [to train me], the only person that I would ask humbly is Floyd Mayweather Sr.,” said De La Hoya on the SI Boxing Podcast.
Mayweather was De La Hoya’s trainer from 2000 to 2006 and again for a short time in 2007.
“Floyd Mayweather Sr. is the only trainer that can tell me to wake up at 5 in the morning. He’s the only trainer who can push my buttons and make me work hard and smart. So I would actually go to him and humbly ask him to do a favor for me.”
The 47-year-old De La Hoya last fought in December of 2008 when he was forced to quit on his stool by Manny Pacquiao at the end of the eighth round. He announced his retirement four months later.
At his age and after being idle for more than a decade, a comeback won’t be as easy as going back into training camp right away.
For De La Hoya, getting himself back into tiptop shape requires going through a long and arduous process.
As a start, De La Hoya said he’s been running and working out daily in Pasadena while a “small team” monitors his body to make sure it’s reacting well.
“They’re making sure that all the fibers and muscles and tendons stay strong in order to take it up to the next level,” he said.
“And that next level is starting my boxing camp. A serious boxing camp…it’s two or three levels that I have to get by and then step it up a notch and that notch is ultimately sparring with big time fighters. Fighters who have experience, fighters who are championship caliber.”
De La Hoya hopes to be able to spar by September “on a regular basis.”
“By that time I do want to make that decision of fighting the first quarter of next year.”