FILE – Golden Boy Promotions Chairman and CEO Oscar De La Hoya gestures during a news conference for the bout between Canelo Alvarez and WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev at the KA Theatre at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino on October 30, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ethan Miller/Getty Images/AFP
MANILA, Philippines—Oscar De La Hoya is no stranger to trash talk as he’s been on the receiving end of such during his active days as a fighter.
So when middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin threw a thinly-veiled death threat, the Golden Boy couldn’t help but just shrug it off.
Golovkin, the IBF and IBO World middleweight champion, blasted De La Hoya and that he’d kill the promoter if he legally gets a chance.
“Everything involving Gennadiy Golovkin for him is a nightmare. He can say whatever. But let me put it this way — if I got an opportunity to legally kill a person in the ring, I might seize it,” said Golovkin in a previous report from Agence France-Presse.
De La Hoya, who captured titles in six weight classes during his heyday, brushed off the comments and that he even sympathized with Golovkin.
“Look, [the comments] weren’t nice, but he’s a fighter, he’s got to protect his own image,” said De La Hoya in an interview with Fight Hub TV as posted on BoxingScene.com. “But he’s obviously still a dangerous fighter because he hits hard.”
The 47-year-old De La Hoya, who’s main priority is being the chairman and CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, has been working on a potential comeback and is on the hunt for a potential opponent in the near future.
He hasn’t found an opponent yet but De La Hoya didn’t have problems retaliating with Golovkin and even discounted the Kazakh’s previous opponent Kamil Szeremeta.
Golovkin easily dispatched Szemereta in seven rounds to retain his titles on December 18.
“I mean c’mon, I’m not a walk in the park, like the guy he fought on the other day,” said De La Hoya. “I’ve always prided myself on fighting the best,” he added. “That’s never going to change. I can’t go back on that.”
De La Hoya, who won titles from super featherweight to middleweight, added that his desire is to fight once more at either 154 or 160 pounds.
And his desire to fight the top guys could potentially lead to a showdown against Golovkin.
“I would have to look at the top guys out there that make the most sense, meaning you look at their styles, where they’re at their careers, what weight I want to fight in,” said De La Hoya. “I don’t think I would have a problem making between 154 and 160. I don’t think I would have a problem with that.”