By Rick Reeno
After suffering the first knock out loss of his career, Oscar De La Hoya is not ready to hang up the gloves. Prior to the Hopkins bout, Oscar told the world that win, lose or draw, this was his last fight. Oscar suprised the Boxing world by taking the fight to Bernard Hopkins. Oscar fought so well that there appeared to be no evidence of a mismatch.
As the fight went on and Hopkins realized he was behind, he began to take the fight to De La Hoya. Hopkins was very accurate in the last few rounds as he began to put the hurt on De La Hoya. Eventually it was one bodyshot to the liver that did Oscar in. When I asked him about how hard this fight was on him, he surprised me with his answer.
"I couldnt believe how easy it was. Everything that I worked on in my camp was coming together and I was winning the fight. I know in my heart that I can beat this guy. I tried to get up so bad (from the bodyshot), but I just couldnt do it" said De La Hoya
Oscar was pretty sure that he was not hanging up the gloves just yet and was ready to get in that ring one more time.
"Right now I'm busy with Golden Boy, Marco's (Barrera) fight is coming up. I did so well in the fight, my performance showed that I have a few more fights left in me. I havent really had time to think about who I'm going to fight next. I could fight Hopkins again, Trinidad is an option too."
Most experts dont expect Oscar to ever step back in the ring with Hopkins, they think De La Hoya will try and lure Felix Trinidad into a mega rematch. As in the past, the financial terms have always been the breaking point of putting these guys back together in the ring. Both fighters feel the other is asking for too much money from the split. Felix feels he beat Oscar and should get the higher split of the pot, Oscar feels he is the draw and that gives him the power to demand a bigger slice. Who knows what will happen with Don King threatening to take Trinidad to Showtime. Should that happen, a potential De La Hoya-Trinidad fight would be very difficult to make with both men fighting on rival networks.
"I'm done for the next couple of months. I won't be back in the ring until next year."
One thing is for sure, Oscar is looking for one or two "big fights" to stamp the closing chapter of his career. You will not see Oscar back in the ring with a fighter of low level name value. The fans want Trinidad-De La Hoya 2, but the fight won't happen unless the two men put their heads together to make it happen
