By James Slater: Now seemingly content in retirement, former multi-weight champion Oscar De La Hoya spends a lot of his spare time (when he’s not busy running the huge promotional group that is named after his nickname) on his Twitter account. Talking about all manner of things related to boxing, the 38-year-old legend often says something that gets on someone’s nerves. This is certainly what happened when “The Golden Boy” gave his opinion on the recent performance of Julio Cesar Chavez Junior.
De La Hoya wrote how he was less than impressed with Junior’s points win over Billy Lyell, stating (according to fight news.com, who picked up on the story) that the Mexican son of a legend “just does not have it.” Oscar also commented on how he feels Chavez Jr has “no pop in his punches.” And even though Oscar is as entitled to his opinion as the next man, and even though he also wrote that he wishes Chavez “the best,” young Julio is hopping mad over what the future Hall of Famer had to say – to the point that he has called him out for a fight!
“I call on Oscar De La Hoya to pick up the gloves and face me at middleweight in September,” Chavez Junior wrote. “I’ll bet my purse that I send him back into permanent retirement from boxing and then I’ll wish him all the best in his career as a promoter.”
In recent years, there has been talk of De La Hoya – who twice stopped all-time great Julio Cesar Chavez Senior – coming back to face Junior in what would still be a big deal in Mexico. And even more recently there were false rumours put out that Oscar would be coming back to face Ricky Hatton in what was to be a huge “farewell” fight for both former champions. None of this came to anything, yet active fighters such as Cornelius Bundrage continue to call De La Hoya out. Now we have the unbeaten 24-year-old Mexican contender doing so.
Recently, just to clear up for once and for all if there was any chance De La Hoya would make a return to the ring, ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael called Oscar up and asked him. De La Hoya replied, with no deliberation whatsoever, that he would NOT be making a comeback. But no-one told Chavez Jr!
Instead of getting himself all worked up over a little bit of constructive criticism, Chavez should be focusing on his in-the-works shot at WBC middleweight ruler Sebastian Zbik (the man the WBC elevated to “Regular” champion, making “real” champ Sergio Gabriel Martinez their “Super” champion). Should he beat the German and take away his belt and unbeaten record, Chavez would very possibly make Oscar eat his words; X2 if he managed to stop the 30-0(10) champion.
Surely a win over Zbik would prove Chavez Jnr’s worth as a fighter? Far more than a win over an inactive, way past his best Oscar De La Hoya would. Not that there is more than a remote chance of that fight happening! But, hey, it’d be a good news story if Oscar did come back.