De La Hoya Won’t Fight Mayweather as Scheduled

Oscar De La Hoya will announce today that he will not fight Sept. 16 against Floyd Mayweather Jr. as planned, according to sources, but is apparently not ready to announce his retirement.

De La Hoya has been undecided about his future since he stopped Ricardo Mayorga in the sixth round last month to win the World Boxing Council light-middleweight title.

Bothered by a damaged rotator cuff, eager to go out on top with a memorable performance and financial security, 33-year-old De La Hoya has nevertheless been tempted to re-enter the ring one more time to take on Mayweather, arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter.

The biggest stumbling block to that match had been Mayweather’s father, Floyd Sr., who had said he would not train someone to beat his son despite a stormy relationship between the two. But the older Mayweather has changed his mind recently, agreeing to be in De La Hoya’s corner for his asking price of $2 million.

But De La Hoya wasn’t certain he wanted to fight again. With time running out to market and prepare for a September fight, De La Hoya will give up that date.

De La Hoya, who returned after a 20-month absence to beat Mayorga, draw 875,000 pay-per-view buys and a collect a salary of over $20 million, doesn’t figure to be back in the ring again until next May at the earliest.

Or he could retire.

But he wants to be sure when does so, it’s not the prelude to a comeback or two or three, emulating a routine followed by so many other fighters.

As De La Hoya has said in recent weeks, “I only plan on retiring one time.”