De La Hoya: I’ll come back for McGregor fight

Just hours before Floyd Mayweather Jr. fought UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor in August, Oscar De La Hoya, a former six-weight world champion, tweeted “F*** YOU #MayweatherVsMcGregor. BOTH OF YOU ARE DISRESPECTING THE SPORT OF BOXING,” the Golden Boy Promotions CEO said.

Despite his earlier rant, De La Hoya said Monday he has been “secretly training” and called out McGregor for a fight after nearly a decade out of the ring.

“You know I’m competitive,” he said. “I still have it in me. I’ve been secretly training, bro, secretly training. I’m faster than ever and stronger than ever. I know I can take out Conor McGregor in two rounds. I’ll come back for that fight. Two rounds. Just one more [fight]. I’m calling him out. Two rounds, that’s all I need. That’s all I’m going to say. You heard it on Golden Boy Radio. Two rounds, that’s all I need.”

His body language seemed to indicate that he was being sarcastic, but you never know these days. De La Hoya appeared on “Golden Boy Radio with Tattoo and the Crew,” which debuted Monday with De La Hoya as a featured guest.

De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KO’s), 44, of Los Angeles, California, captured Olympic gold in 1992 and won 10 world titles in a then-record six weight classes. That record was eventually broken by Manny Pacquiao, who won 11 world titles in eight divisions. When the pair met on Dec. 6, 2008, the Filipino superstar battered De La Hoya for eight one-sided rounds before the fight was stopped by his corner.

This is not the first time De La Hoya has considered coming out of retirement. He was expected to headline an October 2012 card at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York to take on Felix Sturm in a world title rematch, but backed out.

Then in 2015, De La Hoya toyed with the idea of returning to the ring either to face middleweight world champion Gennady Golovkin or Floyd Mayweather, who outpointed him in a 2007 world title fight that stood as the all-time pay-per-view record at 2.4 million buys. However, Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, which generated 4.6 million units, now holds the record, while Mayweather-McGregor at 4.4 million buys, has taken second.

In every case, De La Hoya has elected to stay in retirement – a wise decision.