ANALYSIS/OPINION:
The last time we saw the 42-year-old Oscar De La Hoya in the ring as a fighter was when he was 35 years old and getting pummeled by the smaller Manny Pacquiao in a fight that propelled Pacquiao to stardom.
The time before was when won a unanimous decision over journeyman Steve Forbes — also much smaller than De La Hoya — seven months earlier.
Before that, it was in 2007, when he was given a boxing lesson by Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Then there was De La Hoya’s sixth-round technical knockout of the out-of-shape, cigarette-smoking, beer-drinking Ricardo Mayorga in 2006.
Two years earlier, there was the image of De La Hoya writhing in pain on the canvas as Bernard Hopkins stopped him in the ninth round with a body shot.
Before that, De La Hoya won a lackluster decision over Richard Sturm in a fight that many observers believed he lost.
One year earlier, De La Hoya lost a decision to Shane Mosley — for the second time.
That was in 2003.
Are you getting the picture here?
Going back a dozen years, De La Hoya’s record is 3-4 — and of those three victories, none were noteworthy. Forbes was unheralded and undersized, Mayorga was finished as a serious contender, and he may have actually lost the fight to Sturm.
Yet now, De La Hoya has talked himself into believing that, despite a losing record with suspect wins over the last five years of his career before he retired following the 2008 loss to Pacquiao, he still has some fight left in him and is considering a comeback.
“It’s got to be worth my while but this is very serious,” De La Hoya told ESPN. “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,” he said. “I’m training. I feel great. But it has to be worth my while.”
In other words, despite claiming he would not be coming back for financial reasons, the talk of a comeback smacks of financial desperation. It will have to be worth his while to take a beating, depending on who he faces in a comeback, and another defeat.
De La Hoya has always been a delusional fighter of sorts, rationalizing one setback after another — and so have his fans. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest fighters of his time, yet, once he left the lightweight division, lost most of the big fights against the great opponents he faced — twice to Mosley, once to Felix Trinidad, and then to Hopkins, Mayweather and Pacquiao.
The fight in which he won the welterweight title in 1997 was in question — a controversial decision over Pernell Whitaker that again, many ringside observers, myself included, thought he lost.
The fact is that once De La Hoya left the lightweight and super lightweight divisions, he was never the dominant fighter he had been, and, as time went on and he moved up and faced quality opponents, his record was mediocre. His first defense after the controversial win over Whitaker against an opponent of note was a split decision victory over Ike Quartey in 1999 that — again — some observers believed he lost.
I don’t know which career De La Hoya remembers inside his head when he talks about a comeback.
“I think about Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler,” De La Hoya said. “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 just feel great physically,” he said. “I’ve been taking care of myself. … You can turn the clock back to a certain time.”
But a truthful look back reveals that De La Hoya may not have been the fighter he and his fans believe he was.
De La Hoya may look at himself and see Sugar Ray Leonard.
That would be delusional.
⦁ Thom Loverro is co-host of “The Sports Fix,”noon to 2 p.m. daily on ESPN 980 andespn980.com.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.