[Boxing] "Golden Boy" announces retirement

[Rappy Veteran]

Oscar De La Hoya, who held 10 world titles at six different weights, has announced his retirement from the ring.

The 36-year-old, known as the "Golden Boy" and arguably the biggest name in boxing during the past decade, said he was hanging up his gloves because he felt he could no longer compete at the highest level.

"Boxing is my passion, boxing is what I was born to do," a visibly emotional De La Hoya said at a press conference in his native Los Angeles.

"And when I can't do it any more, when I can't compete at the highest level, it's not fair. It's not fair to me, it's not fair to the fans, it's not fair to nobody. I've come to the conclusion that's over, it's over inside the ring for me.

"Knowing that you're never going to compete again is a tough decision but now I am looking forward to the future of boxing.

"When I cannot compete at this level, I have come to the conclusion that it is over."

De La Hoya, who in recent years has also risen to prominence as a promoter, ends his career with a win-loss record of 39-6 including 30 knockouts.

Pacquiao loss

He has not fought since Manny Pacquiao inflicted an eighth-round TKO upon him in their non-title fight in Las Vegas in December.

Although the Filipino had moved up two weight classes for his first bout at welterweight, he dominated De La Hoya from the opening bell.

Pacquiao shrugged off his opponent's longer reach and picked him off with straight left hands to the face.

At the end of the eighth round, De La Hoya's trainer signalled he had seen enough and the referee stopped the fight.

Shortly after his defeat, De La Hoya said to former trainer Freddie Roach: "You were right, Freddie, I don't have it any more."

An Olympic gold medallist at the Barcelona games in 1992, the Mexican-American was rated the sport's best pound-for-pound fighter five years later.

According to many critics, the greatest fight of De La Hoya's career was his technical knockout of fellow American Fernando Vargas in Las Vegas in September 2002.

In a bout dubbed "Bad Blood", De La Hoya floored Vargas with a left hook to the head 70 seconds into the 11th round to unify the WBA and WBC super-welterweight titles.

In May 2007, De La Hoya lost the WBC super-welterweight title on a split decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Las Vegas in the highest-grossing fight in boxing history.

He outpointed fellow American Steve Forbes in a non-title bout 12 months later, but lost four of his last seven fights in all.

Besides running his Golden Boy Promotions company - which will stage Pacquiao's light welterweight showdown with Ricky Hatton in Las Vegas on May 2 - De La Hoya also intends to continue raising money for various charities.

Source

We all knew it was coming really after the Manny fight.

[DiEMOS]

It's about time.

[virgo89]

Crap! I really wanted to see DLH/mayweather 2!