Golden Boy Promotions founder and former six weight world champion Oscar De La Hoya is no stranger to making bizarre predictions where his own fighters are concerned. For instance he at one point in time claimed to believe that both an over the hill Shane Mosley and criminally undersized Juan Manuel Marquez would defeat Floyd Mayweather.
In his latest series of interviews however, largely aimed at talking up the chances of protege Victor Ortiz, he may have outdone himself, claiming that he would have beaten Pacquiao and Mayweather in his prime but would only have drawn with Ortiz.
De La Hoya said in a recent interview with RingTV:
Unfortunately, I did fight Floyd Jr. and Pacquiao out of my prime. I can tell you that I would say that, no, they wouldn’t have beaten me in my prime
And commented on his fight with Pacquiao in particular detail:
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“When I fought Pacquiao, I was drained. I was a dead man walking right before the fight.”
When he fought Mayweather, De La Hoya was 34 and had a fair amount of ring wear. When he fought Pacquiao a year later he also had a difficult weight cut and was even further from his peak.
To say that in his prime he might well have beaten both then isn’t that difficult to believe. Even past his prime he managed to take Mayweather to a split decision, with the judges scorecards reading 116-112, 115-113 and 113-115.
At welterweight against Pacquiao he was thoroughly and one-sidedly beaten, although at a higher weight or during his early 2000s prime, this might have gone differently.
Oddly though despite saying that he would have beaten Pacquiao and Mayweather during his prime, De La Hoya later said that he would probably only draw with Victor Ortiz.
Speaking in his recent television appearance on the Piers Morgan show on CNN:
“If I was at my prime and — and Victor is at his prime — it would be one hell of a fight, that’s for sure. Maybe a draw.”
A strange series of predictions all told given that Mayweather is a heavy odds on favorite to beat Ortiz and that Pacquiao would undoubtedly be equally favored to beat the young Californian. Not to mention that if as he claims De La Hoya would have beaten both of today’s pound for pound greats he would almost certainly have wiped the floor with a still learning Ortiz.
Despite his unquestionably thrilling title victory over Andre Berto, Ortiz has after all only fought once as a welterweight and against an opponent in Berto who was to a degree untested at the highest level.
To put Ortiz on a level with himself and by extension above Pacquiao and Mayweather, De La Hoya either has supreme confidence in Ortiz’s abilities or isn’t broadening his recent policy of honesty in his personal life into his promotional dealings.
Rob Jakeman, Pitt: “Oscar fell into the promoter speak a long time ago, even when he was fighting he was shadier than he seemed”
