As the boxing world recovers from the shock of pound for pound No.1 Manny Pacquiao?s impressive stoppage of Oscar De La Hoya last Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, there is one simple question that must be answered. What will Oscar De La Hoya the boxer do now? SecondsOut?s team of fearless writers have not held back in stating what the Golden Boy should do…and what he will do.
?I don?t think there is any question as to what Oscar should do and that is retire. However, whilst we can never second guess Oscar, he may well decide to have one more farewell fight. Fight Again.? – Clive Bernath, Editor-In-Chief
?In order to somewhat erase the image and memory of quitting in his corner versus Pacquiao, and to keep the Golden Boy company name in solid standing, I think De La Hoya will decide to fight on for another year or two. As usual, he?ll prepare diligently and look great physically, but he?ll only fight carefully selected opponents. I don?t think there will be any bold predictions as to the next great fighter he?s targeting…just a steady flow of five or six fights, possibly sharing the spotlight on the show with other Golden Boy stars and/or up-and-comers. There?s going to continue to be audience for Oscar De La Hoya and guys like a come-backing Antonio Diaz or a brawling John Duddy will provide enough intrigue to keep the Oscar train rolling. Fight Again.? – Gregory Juckett, Content Editor
?The more De La Hoya watches his loss to Pacquiao, the more he will realise that everything was going against him that night, not the other way around as many people would have told him. Oscar should retire now, but his pride won?t let him. He will fight again, most likely in May 2009, once he convinces himself that he simply attempted the impossible by trying to lose so much weight. Fight Again.? – Paul Upham, Content Editor
?Oscar should retire now. Not because of anything that Manny Pacquiao did to him but simply because he can add to his already enormous personal fortune by promoting other fighters to take punches rather than absorb leather himself. I think Oscar?s decision to show up on fight night at such a light weight (147lbs) badly affected his performance against Pacquiao. He looked weak, listless and out of sorts – a combination of faults that will always lead to a painful defeat when facing a dynamo like Pacman. That said; there is no way on earth that De La Hoya is going to end his boxing career in such a pathetic, humiliating fashion. He?ll return and, over the next year or so, he?ll try to regain some of what was lost on Saturday night. He?ll blame his failure as a result of faulty preparations, win a tune-up and then sail off into the sunset after another huge superfight. Fight Again.? – Michael Norby
?I think Oscar should buy Taco Bell! In all seriousness, the Golden Boy should retire now as one of the most celebrated fighters of his generation and concentrate on his family and numerous business interests. For all Pacquiao?s brilliance on Saturday, I do not believe Oscar has much left to offer as a fighter at the highest level. Retire.? – Mark Butcher, Founding Editor
?What he will do is hard to say. What he should do, I think, would be to have a final fight where he is almost assured a win – over a credible opponent – and go out a winner. He should retire after that and explore his many options. Of course, he will remain with Golden Boy, but he had a budding singing career. He is handsome enough for the movies and TV, and he can be a professional celebrity making personal appearances including color man on televised boxing. Oscar is a very proud man whom I believe is disappointed with his career. He thought he would equal the two Sugars, Robinson and Leonard, but they beat the best, Oscar fell short. He lost to Trinidad, Mosley, and Mayweather (his loss to Hopkins was one that he was too small to win). His win over Sturm was hotly disputed. Make no mistake, he will enter the Hall of Fame and he will deserve his place there. He is a great fighter, just not at the same level as a few others. He has nothing to be ashamed of, and he has accomplished a great deal in boxing and in life. I have found him to be a decent and accessible person whenever I had the privilege to speak to him at press conferences. He was never full of himself. I for one wish him luck. Fight Again.? – Jerry Glick
?If I were Oscar, I would go after a rematch with Felix Sturm. That was the only natural challenge remaining for him, but he chose an artificial one by facing Pacquiao. That was absolutely reasonable from a financial point of view, but he had nothing to win. Even with an impressive destruction of the Pacman, playing the role of Goliath, would not increase Oscar?s place in history and would not give him any extra taste of glory. And we can?t put in figures how much he has lost with this humiliating defeat, but the Wall Street crisis could not even match with it. In the 154lbs weight class there are not marquee names and all would be too much. The 2004 win over the German champion was a travesty, and Oscar can?t be seriously considered as a 6 division champion. By then, Sturm was supposed to be a mere tune-up and today would be a hard task. Leaving the sport as the reigning WBA middleweight champion could be a happy ending and giving a rematch to a man that has beaten him, could help his image as an all time great. But with no more PPV record sales on the horizon, I guess he will opt to retire. Perhaps he can explore the possibility of a return bout with Pacquiao, but that was pretty one sided. With his damaged pride, the first thing that comes to mind is that he will insist as many fighters usually do, but don?t see him fighting for peanuts at this stage. Retire.? – Juan Pablo Manfredi
?Y?know, I?m not sure all the hooting and hollering for Oscar?s retirement is entirely justified. Pacquiao?s brilliant performance aside, De La Hoya?s stunning weigh-in numbers – tipping the scale two pounds light, then only putting on two more the night of the fight – had to have played a big part in how badly he got pummelled. I think he might still have one more good fight in him if he goes back up to 154lbs. Maybe a tune-up against a solid guy to test the waters would be a useful experiment. Most of us wrote off Barrera after his first thrashing at the hands of the Pacman too. Fight Again.? – Sean Waisglass
?Okay, firstly what the Golden Boy should do is take the defeat on the chin, retire and put himself fully into the promoting business. Do I think that?s what Oscar will do? Personally, no. He will always have that little voice in the back of his head wondering whether he?s finished as a fighter or whether it was making 147 that hurt him. A career like Oscar?s cannot end on such a defeat and I see him moving up to junior middleweight again, for one last carefully selected hurrah to the sport, someone like Julio Cesar Chavez Jr may be the ideal opponent for such a fight. But I hope beyond hope that Oscar retires for the sake of his legacy. Fight Again.? – Craig Phillips
?My gut instinct is that Oscar will return to the ring at some point. But after watching him get pounded so badly and with him telling Freddie Roach that he no longer has it, that makes me believe he could be smart enough to walk away. Then again, Oscar is a proud fighter who loves the limelight. And since this is boxing after all, I?m too cynical to believe he?ll walk away when he should. My prediction is that he?ll fight a name fighter on the weekend of Cinco de Mayo 2010, but it won?t be a prime, dangerous Margarito-type of fighter; someone along the lines of a battle-worn and borderline shot Shane Mosley, possibly an unfortunately un-retiring Felix Trinidad. Fight Again.? – Mike Sloan
?What he will do: I believe Oscar will blame the weight loss, and over-training for his performance against Pacquiao. After taking some time off, he will announce that he has regained the fire to fight. Explain how finishing his career in Mexico is a dream come true; and he will announce that he is facing Julio Cesar Chavez Jr on the first Saturday in May, 2009. What he should do: Enjoy the holidays with his family. After the New Year, he needs to put on the promoter?s cap, and give Mosley-Margarito the attention it deserves. He should also apologize to Shane for throwing him under the bus on VS last week. When asked about potentially fighting Margarito, Oscar said that once Margarito climbs the ladder they will make the fight. ?He?s getting close!? I guess Oscar forgot that his business partner was scheduled to fight Margarito on January 24th. After that, he should concentrate on not only promoting, but hiring a better match-maker for Golden Boy Promotions. The quality of Saturday night?s undercard was much worse than his performance in the ring. Fight Again.? – Jason Pribila
?I really hope Oscar De La Hoya calls it a day after this, and hangs up his gloves for good. He has had a wonderful career and he is not getting any younger. Manny proved that in a painful way this passed weekend. If he is smart, which I believe he is, he will focus one hundred percent on his promotional company instead, and try to develop that even more. If he still insists to continue with his boxing career, I would recommend him to take only one more fight, the one everyone wants to see, against Ricky Hatton, but that one isn?t very likely now when he lost to the Pacman, and a rematch with Pacquiao would be pointless. I think he retires, anything else would be foolish! Retire.? – Teddy Stenmark
?I have to be honest, I could not see that Oscar would get defeated in this fight; but based on the beating he took, my guess is that he will fight one more time before he calls it a day. Many fighters don?t want to end their careers on a losing note. But Oscar has never gotten whipped the way he did on Saturday. Even in loosing, he has always been competitive. I hope he takes a clue from Sugar Ray Leonard when Leonard lost to Hector Camacho, and get out now. Fight Again.? – Ray Kilgore
?The new challenge in boxing is going down in weight, so I suspect we will hear some noise about that with maybe a little dose of overtraining thrown in and this could very well turn out to be logic for another bout at a higher weight. Clearly, Oscar isn?t where he used to be and it?s unlikely that he will be competitive against the world?s elite. Far be it for me to tell a guy that has brought so much to the sport to hang it up, but the writing is on the wall and no matter what he decides, his time in the ring is limited. Maybe Oscar can find some way to fight on and look competitive against lesser opposition the way Roy Jones Jr did before he opted to take on Calzaghe, and I am sure we will all watch with at least morbid curiosity. Fight Again.? – John Lumpkin
?I think he should and will retire. There?s nowhere for him to go now, he lost to Pacquiao who was significantly smaller than him. He?s hardly going to jump in the ring with Margarito now is he? Oscar is a smart guy and he has plenty of promoting to be getting on with, I think he?ll hang them up. Retire.? – Nick Kelly
?Oscar has focused more on his role as a promoter for the last several years than he has on his role as a fighter. I haven?t been too happy with him since the PBF bout, which I felt he could have won if he used his jab for twelve rounds. I made my opinion clear about the ODLH-Pac fight clear last week, so there is no need to harp there any longer since my opinion has not changed. Now, it?s time for Oscar to stop fighting and start doing more good for the sport of boxing instead of just himself and a select few. With the demise of Telefutura?s boxing show on Friday nights, there will be a lot of underexposed, lighter weight, Hispanic newcomers in need of some face time. Golden Boy Promotions should look at the bantamweights all the way done to strawweight for both new and established talent. Guys like Ulises Solis, Edgar Sosa, Anselmo Moreno, and Roman Gonzalez should not be fighting in obscurity any longer. How about another World Cup of boxing? The Mexico-Philippines show was worthwhile. Throw in Japan, Puerto Rico, the U.S., etc. My guess is that this won?t become GBP?s main focus and expect to see the novelty match-ups with poor undercards continue. I?m afraid we just might see Hopkins-Mayorga just so the boys at GBP can hold the triple-crown over the Nicaraguan fighter. Whatever happened to seeing Chavez, Trinidad, Norris, Lopez, or Nelson on the same card? Now that, I didn?t mind paying for. Retire.? – Derek Bonnett
?The Golden Boy should retire. He is rich beyond his wildest dreams, heads the leading promotional company in the world and has his health intact. After receiving such a one-sided beating, following a rigorous training camp, it?s time to hang the gloves up. Just say goodbye and bow out gracefully. No need for a hometown fight to go out on a winning note on a fringe opponent. Thanks for the memories Oscar and thanks for carrying the sport on your back for the past 10 years. I also think Oscar will retire. He?s too smart to continue on and tarnish his legacy. Retire.? – Michael Coppinger
?What should he do: Retire from the sport and concentrate on his promoting career. What do I think he will do: Fight Felix Trinidad or Shane Mosley in a farewell fight. Fight Again.? – Craig MacKay
?It?s time for Oscar to look at the reality of his situation. He has lost his last few big bouts and seems to be staring at the end of an illustrious career. If he is smart he will now begin to make the transition from fighter to promoter of his Golden Boy productions. He needs to exit while his reputation is in tact. If he overstays his time in the ring, he will damage himself and worse. As much as over time I?ve grown to dislike De La Hoya, barring him beating Vargas? ass, I have always respected his ability. If he is going to further his legacy, he needs to fall into the roll of leader and mentor of his company. Retire.? – Sean Wippert
?In the aftermath of Oscar De La Hoya?s conclusive dismantling at the hands of Manny Pacquiao, I think I?m like most people in hoping that he will retire from boxing. He was gracious in defeat, and despite knowing that should he engage in a farewell bout in Los Angeles, which would garner him another huge payday and let him end on a win (perhaps), I would really rather him bow out now and carry on as the head of Golden Boy Promotions. I?ve been critical of Oscar in the past few years and I picked Pacquiao to beat him – though I never envisioned the beat down he would suffer – but I?ve also defended him and I?ve thoroughly enjoyed following and writing about his career. He wasn?t a great fighter, and by that I?m in no way denigrating his performances in the ring. The word great gets passed around way too much these days and there should be a distinction between a great fighter like Henry Armstrong – whose name has come up so often in comparison with Manny Pacquiao in the aftermath of the fight – and a very good fighter like Oscar who was not only the most popular and marketable fighter of his generation but one who fought nearly every viable challenger when he was at the peak of his powers. He didn?t win all the time but, with the exception of his fights with Pacquiao and Bernard Hopkins, was always competitive and always intriguing. Will he retire? Oscar will have to deal with his bruised ego in the coming months and I don?t think the decision will be easy for him or one he will reach immediately. He genuinely loves the spotlight, and despite my criticisms of his being more businessman than fighter (and the criticisms of so many others) you can tell that he still loves to climb those steps and bask in the adulation of the crowd. It will be tough for him to walk away and, ultimately, I don?t think he will. Oscar has always been one to find excuses for performances that come up lacking and I?m sure at some point he will blame the weight loss for his failure in the ring on December 6. I hope I?m wrong, but I think he will engage in a farewell bout for his hometown fans against some non-descript opponent in late 2009 and whatever happens in that bout will dictate his future. After that, I can see Oscar and Golden Boy Promotions becoming a juggernaut, if they?re not already, in the promotional side of the sport. The shaky truce Golden Boy Promotions has with Top Rank and Bob Arum will continue, but let?s face it, Bob isn?t getting any younger. He?s as ornery as ever, but Oscar can easily step into the promotional breach and become the guy everyone else has to do business with. Fighters love him and have been flocking into the Golden Boy embrace and Oscar loves those moments in front of the microphone and the media to promote fights. That?s where Oscar belongs, not in the ring. For all his faults Oscar was still an utterly compelling figure in boxing, a cash cow, and at his core a true fighter – and a very good one at that. I will be placing a check mark next to his name when the Boxing Hall of Fame comes calling and I?ll be there in Canastota on that day to shake his hand – unless of course he?d rather punch me in the mouth for some of the things I?ve written about him. Fight Again.? – Matthew Hurley
Total:
Oscar De La Hoya will RETIRE = 7
Oscar De La Hoya will FIGHT AGAIN = 13
