A whole host of old, retired fighters talked about making in-ring comebacks in the boxing world during the COVID-19 shutdown of the sport.
Most of them — including the biggest story of them all, Mike Tyson — have seemingly piped down about it now that boxing is running again. But Oscar De La Hoya, who at 47 years of age started talking comeback about three weeks ago, is still on about it:
I can do some damage in the 154-pound weight class. #FBF #TheComeBack #Training #GoldenBoy pic.twitter.com/8UEHcF7g9c
— Oscar De La Hoya (@OscarDeLaHoya) July 18, 2020
Now granted De La Hoya made this Tweet in the evening on a Friday and a lot of people Tweet a lot of goofy stuff at night on the weekends, but still, he’s still talking about it, and appears to think 154 pounds is a good division to return in.
De La Hoya last fought in Dec. 2008, when he was slaughtered by Manny Pacquiao until being forced to quit after eight brutally one-sided rounds. He had tried to fight as a welterweight again in that one, and was just taken apart by a naturally smaller but much faster, sharper, and more prime athlete and fighter.
At 154 pounds in his career, De La Hoya went 5-2, jumping to that weight class for the first time in 2001. He beat Javier Castillejo that year, then Fernando Vargas and Yori Boy Campas in 2002, before losing to Shane Mosley in 2003 and making a rather ill-fated move to middleweight in 2004. He came back down in 2006 to beat Ricardo Mayorga, lost to Floyd Mayweather in 2007, and beat Steve Forbes in a 150-pound catchweight tune-up in 2008 before being thrashed by Manny, having previously had the intention to rematch Mayweather at 147, but Mayweather “retired” again instead.
