B
DE LA HOYA CHANGES TUNE ON RETIREMENT
NEW YORK -- Oscar De La Hoya has changed his mind.
Before fighting Sugar Shane Mosley last month, De La Hoya said he would retire if he lost. When Mosley beat him for the second time, lifting the WBA and WBC 154-pound titles, De La Hoya said he wasn't interested in a third fight.
Six weeks after losing the disputed decision, De La Hoya promised Wednesday to get back in the ring one more time with Mosley.
"I'm definitely going to fight again, that's for sure," he said. "I will box again. There will definitely be a rematch with Mosley."
De La Hoya was outraged by the defeat and demanded an investigation into the unanimous decision. He has since backed away from that.
"I had a lot of response from fans who said, `You were cheated. How can this happen?"' De La Hoya said. "A decision is a decision. They can be wrong at times. People make mistakes. Nobody's perfect.
"I landed over 150 more punches and didn't get the decision. The public knows who really won. As long as the public knows who really won, that's all that matters."
De La Hoya made the comments Wednesday during a news conference to introduce him as an Olympic boxing commentator for Telemundo Sports, the Spanish language network owned by NBC. He will also contribute to NBC's coverage of the Athens Games.
Telemundo plans more than 130 hours of programming from Athens, the first exclusively non-English language Olympic broadcast in U.S. television history. It will be part of 806½ hours of coverage from Athens, nearly double the 441½ hours of NBC's coverage from Sydney in 2000.
Broadcasting is a new experience for De La Hoya, a five-time champion who recorded a pop music CD that was nominated for a Grammy in 2000 and formed his own boxing promotion company, Golden Boy Promotions, in 2001.
"The strategy is to be honest with the viewer," he said. "You cannot cheat them. You have to be honest. That's what I believe in. I want to tell the story, tell it right and make sure the viewer understands it."
De La Hoya said he was excited to be returning to the Olympics for the first time since he won a gold medal at Barcelona in 1992.
"I always wanted to go back to the Olympics as a spectator," he said. "Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would go as a commentator. It hits home. It touches my heart. This is a huge honor and I appreciate the opportunity."
De La Hoya said he is concentrating on his promotional company and wants to use it as a vehicle to change boxing.
"It takes time," he said. "To be able to correct a bad decision, I think we need that. I feel I can make a difference and take care of boxers. There is so much room to make the sport a better one. It can be a sport organized like the NBA or major league baseball. It's a mission I have, to make a difference, especially for fighters."
http://espn.go.com/boxing/news/2003/1029/1649632.html
NEW YORK -- Oscar De La Hoya has changed his mind.
Before fighting Sugar Shane Mosley last month, De La Hoya said he would retire if he lost. When Mosley beat him for the second time, lifting the WBA and WBC 154-pound titles, De La Hoya said he wasn't interested in a third fight.
Six weeks after losing the disputed decision, De La Hoya promised Wednesday to get back in the ring one more time with Mosley.
"I'm definitely going to fight again, that's for sure," he said. "I will box again. There will definitely be a rematch with Mosley."
De La Hoya was outraged by the defeat and demanded an investigation into the unanimous decision. He has since backed away from that.
"I had a lot of response from fans who said, `You were cheated. How can this happen?"' De La Hoya said. "A decision is a decision. They can be wrong at times. People make mistakes. Nobody's perfect.
"I landed over 150 more punches and didn't get the decision. The public knows who really won. As long as the public knows who really won, that's all that matters."
De La Hoya made the comments Wednesday during a news conference to introduce him as an Olympic boxing commentator for Telemundo Sports, the Spanish language network owned by NBC. He will also contribute to NBC's coverage of the Athens Games.
Telemundo plans more than 130 hours of programming from Athens, the first exclusively non-English language Olympic broadcast in U.S. television history. It will be part of 806½ hours of coverage from Athens, nearly double the 441½ hours of NBC's coverage from Sydney in 2000.
Broadcasting is a new experience for De La Hoya, a five-time champion who recorded a pop music CD that was nominated for a Grammy in 2000 and formed his own boxing promotion company, Golden Boy Promotions, in 2001.
"The strategy is to be honest with the viewer," he said. "You cannot cheat them. You have to be honest. That's what I believe in. I want to tell the story, tell it right and make sure the viewer understands it."
De La Hoya said he was excited to be returning to the Olympics for the first time since he won a gold medal at Barcelona in 1992.
"I always wanted to go back to the Olympics as a spectator," he said. "Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would go as a commentator. It hits home. It touches my heart. This is a huge honor and I appreciate the opportunity."
De La Hoya said he is concentrating on his promotional company and wants to use it as a vehicle to change boxing.
"It takes time," he said. "To be able to correct a bad decision, I think we need that. I feel I can make a difference and take care of boxers. There is so much room to make the sport a better one. It can be a sport organized like the NBA or major league baseball. It's a mission I have, to make a difference, especially for fighters."
http://espn.go.com/boxing/news/2003/1029/1649632.html
