By Mark Vester
Oscar De La Hoya is standing firm on his prediction that Ricky Hatton will upset Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. De La Hoya has mixed interests in the fight. Golden Boy Promotions, De La Hoya's company, is the lead promoter of the event, but at the same time the former six-division champion is also making plans to fight Hatton next May at welterweight - if Hatton wins or loses a competitive contest.
De La Hoya, who dropped a split-decision to Mayweather in May, told the Grand Rapids Press that Mayweather was thinking about their fight for several years and that's reason he was prepared to the max and trained so hard. Against Hatton, De La Hoya feels Mayweather is overlooking the fight and as a result he opened the door for an upset.
"When Mayweather fought me, he'd been thinking about that fight for years -- all his life," De La Hoya said. "He trained so hard. He's always in great shape, but he wanted that fight for so many years. Now, in his next fight, he's fighting Ricky Hatton, and thinking Ricky Hatton doesn't have a chance. Once you start doing 'Dancing with the Stars,' and you lose that focus because you're on top of the world, and you were just in the biggest fight in the history of the sport, you think, 'Maybe I'll change things up a little. Hatton's not that tough.' There's a lot of things that come into play in this fight. That's why I think Ricky Hatton has a chance to win."
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