By Mark Vester

Oscar De La Hoya does not plan to retire for quite some time. The former six-division champion told BoxingScene.com's Bill Emes, among others, that he plans to continue his career as an active fighter beyond the upcoming Dec. 6 bout with WBC lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao. At the start of the year, De La Hoya announced that he would fight three times in 2008 and then retire. The first bout in May was a decision win over Steve Forbes, the planned September rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr. was shelved when Mayweather retired from the sport. Then came the December fight with Pacquiao, originally the date for De La Hoya's final career bout.

De La Hoya admits that he made a mistake by telling the public that he planned to retire, and won't even mention retirement again - until he actually retires.

"I'm not thinking about retirement now. It's not going to be my last fight. I'm still an active fighter. I can still compete at the highest level. I think the mistake that I made, and I have to admit this, the mistake that I made was announcing retirement, or even thinking about retirement. The next time I talk about retirement is when I announce my retirement," De La Hoya.

When asked why he continues to fight, De La Hoya says for the sake of the sport, and for the sake of satisfying himself.

"I want to be involved in the biggest events ever, for the sake of boxing, for the sake of satisfying myself. And once again boxing is on the map because of this event and that's the great part of that," De La Hoya said.

He admits his career is near the end and one day rise someone will from the ranks to take his place. De La Hoya says his company, Golden Boy Promotions, is banking on Danny Jacobs and Victor Ortiz as the next superstars in the sport.

"When we started Golden Boy Promotions, we made the mistake of signing quantity instead of quality. Now that we've learned the business over the last couple of years, we've signed some tremendous fighters. We've just had the opportunity of signing Victor Ortiz, who is a tremendous fighter. We have Danny Jacobs from here back east, he is an unbelievable fighter," De La Hoya said. 

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