Oscar De La Hoya opens up about the brutal Manny Pacquiao defeat which was one of the worst fights of his career.
Maybe the worst for punishment taken was indeed the Pacquiao fight in 2008.
De La Hoya speaking to Club Shay Shay podcast revealed:
“What happened in that fight (Pacquiao). I mean, I was a zombie. I mean, I was drained. I had fought Bernard Hopkins at 160 lbs (before that) and then I said let me dare to be great again and fight this young kid (Pacquiao) who they are talking about at 147 lbs. I literally weighed in at 144 lbs. for that fight. I was just a skeleton. It was too much. So I knew in my head it was over for me. The first round happened he punched me in the first round and I couldn’t through back. My instincts weren’t there, my fast twitch muscles were not there. Every single round. If you watch my documentary that came out on HBO called ‘The Golden Boy’ it explains to you was I was thinking and what I was feeling. I literally wanted to die in that ring.”
It proved to be effectively the end of De La Hoya’s professional boxing career when Pacquiao stopped him brutally inside the distance.
At the time De La Hoya’s life with fame, women, substances, booze and more caught up with him that lead to multiple rehab stints and a parting ways with Richard Schaefer who was previous CEO at Golden Boy Promotions.
Pacquiao however marched on to great things and in many ways was one of the biggest wins of his career.
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