Oscar De La Hoya’s ring return will take place over Mexican Independence Day weekend as the 48-year-old great will face MMA star Vitor Belfort in an exhibition bout on September 18.
“Sources” confirmed this news to MMA Fighting today. The venue is still not confirmed but Las Vegas seems to be likely to host the event. Both fighters have agreed to the match-up. The exhibition bout will be held under boxing rules, the fight to go out on Triller.
So, with big-name exhibition bouts all the rage, we can look forward to (or dread, depending on how you feel) yet another Boxer Vs. MMA event.
De La Hoya as we know, will be returning to the ring for the first time since that painful (and tough to watch) loss he suffered at the hands of Manny Pacquiao, this back in December of 2008; De La Hoya suffering one of only two stoppage losses of his otherwise illustrious career. De La Hoya is currently 39-6(30). The Belfort fight will not go on Oscar’s pro record.
Belfort of Brazil is 44 years of age and he has fought at middleweight, light-heavyweight, and heavyweight. Belfort, a southpaw, did compete in a boxing match back in April of 2006 when he crushed Josemario Neves inside a minute.
There was talk, in 2010, of a fight between Belfort and James Toney. That one failed to come off (phew), and now Belfort gets De La Hoya. Belfort last fought in MMA back in May of 2018, when he was beaten by Lyoto Machida.
Who knows what we can expect to see on the evening of September 18? Additional info such as number and length of rounds, whether or not the two men will wear head guards, size of gloves, and other stuff will be announced at a later date. Will De La Hoya and Belfort got at it, as some fighters have done when getting in there for an exhibition? Or will Belfort and De la Hoya take it easy, as Floyd Mayweather and Logan Paul did in their hyped exhibition?
How many P-P-V numbers will this exhibition bout pull in? Will YOU be buying it?