Oscar De La Hoya took on a number of fellow greats throughout his illustrious career, including over 20 world champions.
‘The Golden Boy’ is widely regarded as one of the best boxers of the past 30 years, having claimed world honours in six divisions from super-featherweight to middleweight.
During that time De La Hoya shared the ring with an abundance of legends such as Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, Julio Cesar Chavez, Shane Mosley, Bernard Hopkins and Pernell Whitaker, but one fighter stood out to him as the best he fought.
Most boxing fans may assume it to be Mayweather, with the American having retired undefeated with a perfect 50-0 record, but De La Hoya disagrees, as speaking to Ring Magazine, he revealed that he viewed Filipino icon Pacquiao as his greatest ever opponent.
“I would have to say Pacquiao [is the best I faced]. I think his determination, his conditioning, his skill, his power, speed, footwork … he’s one of the fighters I most appreciated. Mayweather-Pacquiao would have been a lot different [if they’d fought] in their primes. Pacquiao would have beat [Mayweather] easy, absolutely.”
De La Hoya fought Pacquiao back in December 2008, in what turned out to be the final fight for ‘The Golden Boy.’ Heading into the bout, De La Hoya was seen as the favourite, but Pacquiao dominated the action on his way to an eighth round retirement win.
As referenced by De La Hoya, Pacquiao did lose to Mayweather when they collided in May 2015, but the Filipino legend achieved plenty of success away from that, including being the only boxer in history to become an eight-weight world champion.
