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Editor’s observe: This text was initially revealed at MMAJunkie.com.
Trying again, Oscar De La Hoya thinks signing as much as combat former UFC champion Vitor Belfort was a mistake.
De La Hoya, the Olympic gold medalist and boxing Corridor of Famer, was supposed to come back again from retirement final fall in an exhibition boxing match in opposition to Belfort underneath the Triller banner. It might’ve been the 49-year-old’s first bout in opposition to knowledgeable fighter since retiring in 2008.
Nonetheless, De La Hoya was hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19 and was compelled to withdraw from the bout. He was changed by then-58-year-old Evander Holyfield, whom Belfort stopped by TKO in much less the 2 minutes.
In hindsight, the “Golden Boy” is comfortable he didn’t step within the ring.
“I’m glad I didn’t combat this monster of a fighter as a result of he’s an enormous man, and he is aware of what he’s doing,” De La Hoya stated Wednesday on “The MMA Hour.” “He’s proficient. As previous as we have been, we are able to nonetheless throw punches. We noticed it with Evander Holyfield the place he knocked him out. I feel I dodged a bullet there.”
De La Hoya stated his fighter ego pushed him to combat however after analyzing issues with a cool head, he realized he wasn’t in type to combat Belfort – even with a large benefit in boxing expertise.
“I used to be in nice form, however I’ve to confess I used to be mendacity to myself,” De La Hoya stated. “After I was sparring, I used to be getting hit so much. So I used to be being cussed. I used to be in nice form. My reflexes … the movies that I posted, they have been legit. They have been quick, my reflexes have been unimaginable, however once I was sparring, I used to be getting hit an excessive amount of.
“The whole lot occurs for a purpose. I’m glad I didn’t combat as a result of clearly he’s an enormous man, and he knocked out Evander Holyfield, so all the things occurs for a purpose. I’m glad that I acquired over it (COVID-19) and I didn’t combat, and now I can simply sit again and chill out and develop some grey hairs selling fighters.”
At the moment, De La Hoya retains busy operating Golden Boy Promotions, his boxing promotional agency based mostly in Los Angeles. He has many fighters in his steady, together with undefeated Ryan Garcia.
De La Hoya says he’s completed preventing and can simply give attention to selling.
“No, no, I’m completed,” De La Hoya stated. “The whole lot occurs for a purpose, and I’m glad that I didn’t come again.”
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