“Has De La Hoya become the very thing he used to hate?”

By Mike Casile (PBR)

Denying the greatness of Oscar De La Hoya, would be absolutely wrong. Nobody and I do mean nobody, in any weight class, has fought as many tough fighters back to back, with as much tenacity as De La Hoya has. It is was the one thing that separated him, from fighters like Roy Jones, and some would even say Floyd Mayweather Jr. He never ran, and he almost always accepted a challenge, while giving others the chance to prove their machismo against him.

As he moves from fighter, to promoter, I have noticed a definite change in the way he chooses his fights these days. Is it about fighting the best? Is it about knowing your good enough to take it from any man in the world, and give back as much or more? Or is it all about money? These days, it is hard to tell too much of difference, between the money hungry promoters he rallied against, and him. He has a title, but gets to choose what year, and who he wants to fight. Instead of letting the competitive nature of the sport decide.
Jose Rivera sits, with a Junior Middleweight title, unable to unify, because Oscar doesn’t want to fight this year, And he doesn’t want to fight for Rivera’s title, There just simply isn’t enough, yes you guessed it,, Money in it. Why not unify the titles? The answer is simple; money seems to be more important to him, than glory. It used to be the other way around, but maybe the gold is losing its luster, and maybe it’s beginning to look like the same old Brass ring, with a younger man, in charge this time. The more things change, the more they stay the same I guess. Was it all about money when he fought Oba Carr? Or Ike Quartey? Or Tony “the tiger” Lopez? Or Trinidad and Mosley, back to back? Or was it about being the best, and fighting the toughest, to prove something to himself, not his broker.

I was always a De La Hoya fan, but his greed and exclusion of other fighters has left me a little confused. With a virtual cornucopia of unbridled talent in the 147 to 160lb weight classes, why is he waiting for Floyd Mayweather to collect the big money. Just for the record, and in case even he does not know, he has more money than god right now. If anything, he should want to prove something to himself, once again, and remind everybody why he is in, the “golden” position he is in. These days, he does not have to go on about the tactics of Bob Arum or Don King; all he has to do is find mirror and take a long good look. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Mike Casile
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