Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley share a number of commonalities, including each battling both Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the boxing ring.
De La Hoya and Mosley gave their thoughts about the two welterweights to Jim Lamprey on HBO Boxing’s “,” which aired Saturday.
De La Hoya lost a split decision to Mayweather and a referee technical decision after eight rounds to Pacquiao, while Mosley lost unanimous decisions to both.
Jose Arroyo installs an advertisement for a fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand, Friday, April 24, 2015, in Las Vegas. The fight is scheduled to take place May 2 at the hotel and casino. (John Locher, The Associated Press)
De La Hoya on Mayweather:
I had to go beyond thinking I’m going to kick his ass. This guy’s a strategist, this guy knows how to calculate his punches, he knows how to throw combinations.
Mosley on Mayweather:
I went into the fight confident that I could hit him and knowing that I could knock him out. … I thought I could force him to trade with me more than he did with Oscar because of my foot speed to get to him.
De La Hoya on Pacquiao:
You ever have a fly in front of you and you can’t catch it. Please go away. Manny Pacquiao was like that for eight rounds. He would throw punches and punches in bunches. And he was landing everything. I just couldn’t throw back.
… He was not faster than Shane Mosley, but the fact that he was so relentless. Jim, I was at one point, had him in the center of the ring and he was wide open. And I could see the shot, but I couldn’t pull the trigger.
Mosley on Pacquiao:
I was looking at Manny and the guy was up to my chin, maybe a little bit taller than my chin. I was like, “There’s no way this guy can beat me. No way.” So I get into the ring with Manny Pacquiao. It’s not like he’s hard to hit. Like he’s not easy to hit, but he’s not hard to hit. When I want to, I can throw a little jab or a right hand and touch him.
Now we’re in the second round, now I’m going to hit him with my right hand and see how he reacts to the right hand. I set it up, I line him up, I get ready to throw it, and I see him do a little bouncing and throws a little one-two. I fall down. I was like, ‘Wow, that didn’t seem that hard. Why did I go down? How did I go down like that?’ I get up and I’m dizzy. I’ve never been hit that casually and gone down.
Wow. I have 10 more rounds to go.
Other common opponents shared their thoughts, including Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez and Ricky Hatton, as well as legendary heavyweight boxers George Foreman, Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson.
