According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, Oscar De La Hoya is contemplating a return to the ring.
“It’s got to be worth my while but this is very serious,” De La Hoya told ESPN.com on Monday. “I have to make sure I am fighting the very best. I don’t have to come back for financial reasons or the lights or the glamour. The only reason I would come back is because I miss the competition of fighting the very best.”
“Right now I feel the best I have felt in my life physically, emotionally, mentally because I haven’t touched alcohol for I don’t know how long. I’m training. I feel great. But it has to be worth my while,” said De La Hoya, an admitted alcoholic and drug addict, who has done at least two stints in rehabilitation to deal with his addictions.
“Would I do it? I don’t know but I wake up every morning thinking that I can,” De La Hoya continued. “I think about Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler. If [Leonard] could do it, why can’t I? We both come from similar situations. We are both hungry for the competition, we’re both ambitious. So you never know. At the same time, I wish time flies by so I don’t have to come back.”
“I want to fight one of them because they are the best and I always fought the best,” De La Hoya said. “That’s what boxing is all about – fighting the best.”
I’ve gotten everything taken care of — my rotator cuffs, my left hand, everything. I’m pain free,” De La Hoya said. “I just feel good and when I walk the streets, everyone tells me, ‘You have to fight Floyd again, you have to fight GGG. You can do it, you can do it.
“I just feel great physically. I’ve been taking care of myself. I’ve been doing the Bernard Hopkins lifestyle. You can turn the clock back to a certain time.”
“I’m not preparing for an actual fight, but I run 8 miles, I can hit the bag for 12 rounds, I can jump rope and do the speed bag. I do all that on a regular basis to stay in shape,” De La Hoya said. “I look great too. I’ve never seen myself look like this. Sometimes that little itch gets me in that certain spot, and when so many people tell me I can do it, it’s trying to convince me that you can.”
“So it will be one of those bittersweet moments,” De La Hoya said. “There will be people who will like it and those who won’t. I want everyone to like it.”
“I feel amazing,” De La Hoya said. “In my life right now, I have so much motivation. I am so hungry and so determined. My plan is long term with Golden Boy, with me personally, my family, my business. I am young, I am healthy and I feel great — 42 is the new 32.”
