Oscar De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs) might want to think twice about picking IBF middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin as his comeback opponent next year because GGG warns that he would be a “nightmare” for the “Golden Boy” if they were to fight.
Golovkin told AFP that De La Hoya has a “dirty” mouth and that it would be a “nightmare” for him. The warning GGG gave De La Hoya is one that you can’t ignore because he sounds like he wants to mess up the ‘Golden Boy’ and teach him a lesson he won’t soon forget.
GGG didn’t say that he wouldn’t fight him, and you can’t blame him for not turning down the fight ahead of time. Golovkin can make a fortune fighting De La Hoya next year, and it’s a fight that would easily outdo a trilogy match between him and Canelo Alvarez.
The 47-year-old De La Hoya surprised boxing fans when he said recently that he’s eyeing a fight against GGG for his comeback in 2021, and he views him as an “easy” fight for him because of his style of fighting.
De La Hoya was at his best in the 135 and 140-lb weight divisions.
When he moved up briefly to 160, he struggled. When De La Hoya moved up to 147, that’s when he began struggling against the likes of Pernell Whitaker, Felix Trinidad, and Shane Mosley.
“You know Oscar; you know how dirty his mouth is,” Golovkin said to AFP when asked about his thoughts on De La Hoya showing interest in fighting him.
“Everything involving Gennady Golovkin for him is a nightmare,” the Kazakhstan fighter said. “He can say whatever. But let me put it this way – If I got an opportunity to legally kill a person in the ring, I might seize it.”
Man, Golovkin will be a problem for De La Hoya if the two meet up inside the ring in 2021. De La Hoya has talked about wanting to fight Golovkin in the past, though, and he never acted on it.
Four years ago, De La Hoya was contemplating coming out of retirement to fight Golovkin, but he talked out of it. We’ll have to see if De La Hoya loses his nerve again and decides to stay happily or sadly retired.
With the old-timer’s Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather Jr making big money with their exhibition fights, it’s got to be hard for De La Hoya to resist fattening his bank account for making a comeback to fight Golovkin or another popular fighter.
Golovkin will be coming off of a 14-month layoff this Friday night to defend his IBF 160lb title against Kamil Szeremeta (21-0, 5 KOs) on DAZN from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
“It was a long pause,” Golovkin said about his one-year layoff. “There was enough time to miss boxing and forget certain things. The training was good. I went through my standard training, and it went well, and I’m ready.”