Oscar De La Hoya Says He’s ‘Secretly Training’ To Fight Conor McGregor
If Conor McGregor vs Floyd Mayweather was a fight you never wanted to see, what you will read next might just throw you over the edge.
Speaking yesterday on ‘Golden Boy Radio with Tattoo and the Crew,’ retired boxer Oscar De Le Hoya made the startling revelation that he’s planning a return and that he wants to fight McGregor.
“You know I’m competitive,” De La Hoya said. “I still have it in me. I’ve been secretly training, secretly training. I’m faster than ever and stronger than ever. I know I can take out Conor McGregor in two rounds. I’ll come back for that fight. Two rounds. Just one more [fight]. I’m calling him out. Two rounds, that’s all I need. That’s all I’m going to say. You heard it on Golden Boy Radio. Two rounds, that’s all I need.”
De La Hoya, now 44, retired in 2009 following a career where he won Olympic gold and had a professional record of 39-6 with 30 KOs. De La Hoya won ten world titles in six different weight classes and generated approximately $700 million in pay-per-view income, a figure only surpassed later by Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiaio.
During the lead up to the Mayweather vs McGregor fight this past August, De La Hoya as highly critical of the fight being made and on several occasions labelled the contest a “farce” and a “circus.” The CEO of Golden Boy Promotions even went as far as writing an open letter to boxing fans where he wrote that if the fight did take place, that the sport of boxing “Might not ever recover.”
Given De La Hoya’s very public stance against the Mayweather vs McGregor fight, it makes his revelations yesterday even more startling.
While the prospect of McGregor lacing up the boxing gloves against De La Hoya might sound unlikely, the chances of the Irishman returning to the boxing ring sooner rather than later may have just improved given his actions this past weekend.
According to ABC president Mike Mazzulli, the UFC have removed McGregor from the UFC 219 fight card set to take place on Dec. 30. McGregor was never officially announced on the card, but Mazzulli stated that this was the first action taken by the UFC to punish McGregor for invading the Bellator MMA cage last Friday at Bellator 187.
