Oscar De La Hoya
Oscar De La Hoya points towards the crowd before an official weigh-in for WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Robert Guerrero at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada May 3, 2013. Mayweather will defend his title against Guerrero at the arena on May 4. Reuters

Retired six-time world champion Oscar De La Hoya believes that Floyd Mayweather Jr. cannot be considered the greatest fighter of all time even if the American retires with a perfect boxing record. According to De La Hoya, Mayweather needs to fight the best to earn the respect that he longs for.

De La Hoya believes that Mayweather doesn’t really have the earnest desire to fight Manny Pacquiao because the undefeated fighter wants to retain his perfect record until retirement, according to a report by ESPN Deportes. Mayweather, who has not lost a single bout in his professional boxing career at 47-0, has two more fights left in his Showtime contract, and many believe that he is fixated on protecting his undefeated streak.

“Mayweather will not fight (Pacquiao), because he thinks that if he leaves the sport undefeated, he will be considered the best ever,” De La Hoya said. “But he won’t be, because people will respect you more when you face the toughest, the most dangerous.”

During his active years in boxing, De La Hoya fought the likes of Bernard Hopkins, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., Shane Mosley, Mayweather and even Pacquiao. De La Hoya, who suffered defeats from Mayweather and Pacquiao in 2007 and 2008, respectively, said that it doesn’t matter if a fighter loses a bout. What matters is the “legacy” that the fighter leaves behind.

Despite the ongoing talks about the superfight between Mayweather and Pacquiao, both camps are still unable to reach an agreement. De La Hoya said he is perplexed why negotiations to make two of the greatest fighters in history meet in the ring continue to fail.

As the possibility of Mayweather-Pacquiao fight continue to fade, the eight-division Filipino world champion keeps his hopes up that the two fighters will soon be able to make a deal. Pacquiao is optimistic that an announcement will be made within one week. Pacquiao told Chris Wallace of Fox News that he doesn’t want to retire from the sport without facing Mayweather because it would leave a big question in the minds of the fans of the sport all over the world.

Mayweather tried to make the fight with Pacquiao happen in 2009, but issues about blood testing prevented the fight from taking place. Six years later, the talks about the superfight flared up after Pacquiao called out on Mayweather following the Filipino’s victory over Chris Algieri in November 2014.

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