It wasn’t that long ago that Oscar De La Hoya was blasting the Conor McGregor boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Now De La Hoya has done a 180 and wants to be a primary participant in such a sideshow, and oddsmakers think such a fight would be very close.
De La Hoya, who hasn’t fought since 2008, said on Golden Boy Radio with Tattoo and the Crew that he has been training and would beat McGregor in two rounds.
“I still have it in me. I’ve been secretly training. I’m faster than ever and stronger than ever,” De La Hoya said. “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.”
That’s quite a change in attitude for Oscar, who called the McGregor-Mayweather fight a “circus.” He was mostly upset that the two slid their fight in a few weeks before his megafight between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin, taking the spotlight away from Golden Boy Promotions’ biggest fight of the year.
This isn’t the first time since retiring that De La Hoya has entertained the idea of fighting. Two years ago he was talking about facing Mayweather.
Just to show how far he would have to come to get a win after so many years out of the ring, De La Hoya is a slight underdog in the fight. One sportsbook has McGregor as a -125 favorite, with De La Hoya as a +105 underdog.
Personally, a match between McGregor and Paulie Malignaggi would be much more interesting.
H/T Bloody Elbow
