When Floyd Mayweather beat Oscar De La Hoya in 2007, it put the then 30-year-old Mayweather in position to become the face of boxing. From there, Mayweather became the PPV King and would go on to earn close to a billion dollars in the ring. However, according to De La Hoya, who was 34 years old at the time of the fight, the bout would have ended differently if he were a few years younger.
“It’s no secret that I fought Floyd when I was over the hill, past my prime.” De La Hoya told TMZ Sports. “Just the way I fought Manny Pacquiao, but it was a good, close fight with Floyd. Look, he deserved the win. He was the next guy coming up. “If I was about 28 or 27 years old, I would have knocked that a** out easy.”
De La Hoya actually fought a good fight against Mayweather and had some success with the jab, and yes, he was past his prime, and only fought two more times after that, which included a beat down from Pacquiao.
However, Mayweather was fighting at 154 for the first time, so the weight gave De La Hoya an advantage in that fight, and Mayweather(50-0) would end his career undefeated, so no one found the blueprint to beat him.
In the end, we’ll never know.