By Mark Vester
Hall of Famer trainer and HBO boxing analyst, Emanuel Steward, believes that Oscar De La Hoya would have beaten Manny Pacquiao if he didn't overtrain his body to make the welterweight limit last December. De La Hoya weighed-in at 145-pounds for that fight, lower than any previous weigh-in at the welterweight limit and his lowest weight since January of 1997. From mid-2001 to May 2008, De La Hoya had been fighting at 154-pounds and above.
Not only does Steward think he won, he gives De La Hoya a 60% chance of fighting again. De La Hoya announced his retirement from boxing on Tuesday.
"If he had been normal, he would've won," said Steward to USA Today. "All of these things are going to play on his mind. ... It's going to be eating him up that he lost this embarrassing fight and that he beat himself. Knowing how Oscar is a high-rolling type of guy, I think the chance of him fighting again is 60%."
Boxing legend "Sugar" Ray Leonard is no stranger to retirement, and returning, and then going back to retirement. He tells the paper that once you retire, you lose a fighter's edge and begin to become a normal person. He seems to regret the brief returns to the ring.
"You lose that edge. You lose that commitment, because once you start becoming a citizen, you become a businessman, you start having fun, you lose those things that normally come natural," Leonard said. "When I fought at my best, I didn't anticipate punches coming back. I didn't care about those things. I noticed when I made those comebacks, I was anticipating punches coming back because I wasn't committed. Trust me, that happens."
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