De la Hoya backtracks on retirement talk as pacquaio fight is announced

hat Oscar De La Hoya planned to retire from the ring following the forthcoming fight with Filipino superstar Manny Pacquaio had been a foregone conclusion.  In fact, the “exit strategy” from active boxing competition had been drawn up by De La Hoya himself.  Of course anyone who’s followed “the sweet science” knows that retirement doesn’t come easy to professional fighters and despite his financial success and methodical approach to the end of his career Oscar De La Hoya is no exception.

For that reason, it wasn’t a particularly big surprise when De La Hoya backtracked on his retirement plans at a news conference to announce his December 6th fight in Las Vegas against “pound for pound” king Pacquaio.  When asked about retirement, De La Hoya was equivocal:

"My focus is my training and my next fight. I'm not going to talk about retirement. I'm not going to think about retirement. I want to be focused on my job in the ring and we'll see after the fight how I feel."

When asked if that “left the door open” to a return he quipped:

"Let's just say my foot got caught in the door”

De La Hoya’s wife has favored retirement for a few years now, and he’s been increasingly busy with his professional obligations as a promoter.  Ironically, it may be his fiduciary interest in Golden Boy Promotions that’s behind his possibly prolonged career—in addition to being the founder of the company he’s also their most dependable revenue stream.  He’s certainly still a credible fighter, and with several other big money fights on the horizon following Pacquaio including another Golden Boy represented fighter, Ricky Hatton.

De La Hoya has also suggested that he’d like to fight at the Mexico City soccer stadium Estadio Azteca before the end of his career and perhaps in his retirement bout.   Julio Cesar Chavez—a Mexican boxing legend and a De La Hoya idol—fought Greg Haugen there in front of 130,000 fans and De La Hoya has always been enamored with the idea of competing on that stage.  The 130,000 paying customers are, of course, an ancillary benefit.

While a few rumors are afoot that De La Hoya’s retirement bout will take place next May in the aforementioned Mexico City venue, obviously much depends on his performance against Pacquaio.    At the press conference announcing the fight, De La Hoya correctly noted that he needed to put aside retirement speculation and focus on the task at hand.  Hopefully the media will let him do so.