‘I Was Getting Hit Too Much’- Oscar De La Hoya Gets Real About His Prior Decision to Unretire and Face ‘Monster of a Fighter’ Vitor Belfort
Famed boxing promoter and former champion Oscar De La Hoya stopped by ‘The MMA Hour’ and had an insightful conversation with Ariel Helwani. De La Hoya talked about his split with Canelo Alvarez from ‘Golden Boy’ Promotions and also offered a truce to a long-time rival Dana White.
Additionally, during the course of the conversation, De La Hoya also revealed that he was glad he never made a comeback to the ring. The 49-year-old who hasn’t competed since 2009 expressed an interest in making a comeback in 2021. In fact, he was booked to face MMA icon Vitor Belfort for Triller’s event. However, De La Hoya was forced to withdraw due to COVID-19-related complications.
Belfort would decimate boxing royalty Evander Holyfield, and when looking back at how things played out, Oscar De La Hoya is glad he never came back to fighting.
Oscar De La Hoya candidly admitted that while he was in great shape, his sparring sessions simply didn’t go according to plan. In fact, Oscar De La Hoya said that he was getting hit far too often in sparing and would perhaps have fallen prey to the ‘monster of a fighter’ Vitor Belfort.
OTD in 2004, Oscar De La Hoya defeated Felix Sturm via UD to become a 5-Division World Champ. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/oh0g4RWhLE
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) June 5, 2022
“I’m glad I didn’t fight this monster of a fighter because he’s a big guy, and he knows what he’s doing.”
“I was in great shape, but I have to admit I was lying to myself,” De La Hoya said. “When I was sparring, I was getting hit a lot. So I was being stubborn. I was in great shape. My reflexes … the videos that I posted, they were legit. They were fast, my reflexes were incredible, but when I was sparring, I was getting hit too much.”
“Everything happens for a reason. I’m glad I didn’t fight because obviously he’s a big guy, and he knocked out Evander Holyfield, so everything happens for a reason. I’m glad that I got over it (COVID-19) and I didn’t fight, and now I can just sit back and relax and grow some gray hairs promoting fighters.” [h/t mmajunkie.com]
Although Vitor Belfort is well past his prime, he would have still been heavily favored against the 49-year-old boxing promoter. Oscar De La Hoya has his hands full promoting the top stars of boxing like Ryan Garcia and Jaime Munguia and is likely to stick in that lane going forward.
