‘Golden Boy’ Oscar De La Hoya has been one of the biggest names in modern boxing, both as a competitor and as a promoter.
As De La Hoya faced fighters such as Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, and Julio Cesar Chavez, one of the greatest Mexican fighters of all time, his resume is lengthy.
Holding world titles in a whopping six weight classes, there is no doubt about the talent that the boxer possessed. In one of the more impressive performances of his career, De La Hoya bounced back from a brutal loss in style.
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Oscar De La Hoya bounced back from Bernard Hopkins loss against Ricardo Mayorga
Fighting Bernard Hopkins in a middleweight title unification bout, De La Hoya would fall to his fourth defeat in his career in September 2004.
Being stopped for the first time, Hopkins delivered a knockout blow to De La Hoya, who went down from a body shot. Following the fight, fans would not see De La Hoya compete for another 20 months.
In May 2006, De La Hoya would return to boxing. Facing Ricardo Mayorga, the two would fight in Las Vegas.
Mayorga was the WBC World Super Welterweight champion, looking to make his first defense of the title. However, the Nicaraguan fighter would not be successful.
A great return showing from De La Hoya would be capped off in the sixth round. After dropping Mayorga in the first round with a left hook, De La Hoya put his opponent down again in round six.
After stunning his opponent, De La Hoya released a flurry of punches to crumble Mayorga, who was unable to beat the count.
Oscar De La Hoya aimed to defend world title against Floyd Mayweather
Although De La Hoya had been out of action for some time when he faced Mayorga, he would take another break of a year before aiming to defend his belt. However, when he did return, De La Hoya would face Mayweather in a huge money fight.
The pair fought in Las Vegas, as Mayweather had an unbeaten 37-0 record. ‘Money’ was moving up a weight class, having become welterweight champion in 2006.
On May 5th, 2007, the two stars would come together. By a close margin, De La Hoya was not able to defend his world super welterweight title. Losing via split decision, it was the fifth loss of ‘Golden Boy’s’ career.