Let?s hope Oscar De La Hoya is kidding about making a comeback.
It?s possible one of the biggest stars in boxing history simply needs more attention than being the face of Golden Boys Promotions affords him.
If talk of fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Gennady Golovkin is just about briefly feeding his ego, it?s mostly harmless. He wouldn?t be the first promoter, or the last, to discuss far-fetched fights that will never happen.
But if “The Golden Boy” is serious about a rematch with Mayweather, still the best boxer in the world, or challenging Golovkin, the dangerous knockout artist from Kazakhstan, someone close to De La Hoya should try to talk him out of it.
Rehab has helped De La Hoya deal with his well-documented addictions and he looks as physically fit as when he fought.
But the former six-division champion is 42 and hasn?t fought in 6 1/2 years. And the last time he boxed, Manny Pacquiao pummeled him into submission after eight embarrassingly one-sided rounds in Las Vegas.
De La Hoya stands 5 inches taller than Pacquiao and was heavily favored to defeat the Filipino superstar. If their December 2008 welterweight fight taught us anything, it?s that De La Hoya?s days as an elite-level prizefighter are over.
Unfortunately, an enormous ego and the age-defying success of his 50-year-old promotional partner, Bernard Hopkins, have convinced De La Hoya that he can make the unlikeliest of comebacks.
“Would I do it?” De La Hoya told espn.com last week. “I don?t know, but I wake up every morning thinking that I can. I think about Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler. If [Leonard] could do it, why can?t I?”
For starters, Leonard?s layoff lasted less than three years before he came back to score a highly controversial victory over Hagler. De La Hoya?s retirement has continued more than twice as long as Leonard?s layoff.
Leonard also was 30, a dozen years younger than De La Hoya, when he defeated Hagler in April 1987.
No matter how close their first fight was, De La Hoya lost a split-decision to Mayweather eight years ago. Mayweather is 38, but he just outclassed Pacquiao, who?s 36, and would dominate De La Hoya in a rematch.
A farcical fight against Golovkin would be even more dangerous for De La Hoya, who wasn?t exactly an effective middleweight in 2004.
Let?s just hope he isn?t serious.
