On December 6, 2008, a 30-year-old Manny Pacquiao made light work out of a 35-year-old, former Olympic Gold medalist and Golden Boy of boxing, Oscar De La Hoya. It was also the fight that made De La Hoya realize that it was best he hung up his boxing gloves after a glorious career spanning sixteen years. The six-division champion didn’t have any answers to the PacMan’s blitzkrieg of overwhelming volume punches. De La Hoya found himself in a helpless situation where he was being punched up but carried on because of his pride. Finally, after the eighth round, Oscar’s team threw in the towel, putting an end to his misery.

Some would say that the fight should have ended way earlier. Even De La Hoya agrees with that notion. In fact, he knew he was a dead man pretty early into the fight. In a recent conversation with sports analyst and former NFL tight end Shannon Sharpe on his podcast Club Shay Shay, De La Hoya opened up about the disturbing thoughts that went through his head when he was trading blows with the Filipino legend which ultimately put the final nail in his professional career.

Courage or foolishness?

Not the one to shy away from asking the hard questions, Sharpe queried Oscar De La Hoya on why a “tough” and “fearless” Mexican-origin fighter like him, didn’t just go out on his shield, and instead opted to retire on his stool during the Manny Pacquiao fight. In response, De La Hoya stated that it was never his intention to quit. On the contrary, ‘Golden Boy’ said he “literally wanted to die in that ring.” However, before he even stepped into the squared circle against Pacquiao, De La Hoya knew “it was over for him” as he felt weight-drained, and looked like a “skeleton” in his attempt to make weight for the fight.

“I was a zombie. I was drained. I think I had fought Bernard Hopkins at 160 and then I said let me dare to be great again and fight this young kid who they’re talking about at 147. I literally weighed in 144 for that fight and I was just, I was a skeleton. It was too much,” De La Hoya revealed. Shedding light on his predicament during the fight, he admitted that he “couldn’t throw back”, his “instincts weren’t there” and his “fast twitch muscles weren’t there.”

Knowing that the fight was a lost cause, he divulged that despite the referee wanting to stop the fight in the seventh round, he “wanted one more.” But why? Recalling the morbid thoughts circulating in his head during the fight, he confessed to Shannon Sharpe, “I was thinking if he punches me maybe I won’t, I won’t wake up you know.” De La Hoya admitted that he wanted to die in the ring, and thus, despite the protests from his team, he kept prolonging the vicious beating.

Thankfully, Oscar’s team intervened and threw in the towel at the end of the eighth round. Good sense prevailed, and De La Hoya got off his stool and hugged Pacquiao, signaling the end of “The Dream Match” that could have turned into a nightmare for ‘The Golden Boy’.

But, the burning question is: why did Oscar want to end his life in the ring?

When all hope is lost, death comes as a blessed relief!

At the time when De La Hoya fought Pacquiao, he was dealing with alcoholism and substance abuse issues and was in and out of rehab. The situation was so dire that the six-division champion was fed up with life itself. His death wish was further exacerbated by the fact that he couldn’t even perform inside the ring against Pacquiao the way he used to in his prime years. In his dark and twisted logic, Oscar De La Hoya felt that getting knocked out unconscious in the ring would be a glorious way to go.

“I wanted my whole life to die… the whole life that I was living at the time you know – having to go through rehabs, having to go through fame and money and women, it was just overwhelming. Now, I can’t perform. I don’t have the last thing that I love, that I work so hard for. I don’t have it anymore right, so just end it here in the middle of the ring. Just punch me so I can die,” De La Hoya disclosed to the NFL veteran, being as candid as possible about his depression. Four months after his fight with Pacquiao, De La Hoya announced his retirement, leaving behind a professional record of 39-6-0, winning ten titles across six weight divisions.

Goes to show that fame and money can’t stop a person from hitting rock bottom. Thankfully, Oscar De La Hoya cleaned up his act, and he is still invested in the fight game, donning the hat of a promoter.

What do you think of Oscar’s candidness about his struggles with depression on the Club Shay Shay podcast? Let us know in the comment section below.