"I think I would have beat him in boxing" - Georges St-Pierre discusses how he would have fared against Oscar De La Hoya
In 2021, there were rumors going around of UFC star Georges St-Pierre and boxing legend Oscar De La hoya competing inside the squared circle. But these rumors never became a reality.
'Rush' recently made an apearance on the Pound 4 Pound podcast, hosted by former UFC champions Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo. During the episode, St-Pierre discussed various topics, like his life after parting ways with MMA and his opinion on Khabib Nurmagomedov.
At one point, the 42-year-old spoke about potentially fighting 'The Golden Boy' a few years ago. 'Rush' acknowledged that De La Hoya, in his prime, would have defeated him inside the ring.
But St-Pierre added that considering the time the talks of their fight were going on, the age difference would have played a big factor in their matchup. The 42-year-old suggested that if the fight had come to fruition at that time, he believed he would have gotten the better of the 51-year-old:
"The Oscar De La Hoya [fight], it was not an MMA fight obviously. It was boxing, but it was boxing with bigger gloves, like 16-ounce, sparring gloves. And you know, Oscar is almost 10 years older than me. I don't have the audacity of saying that I'm a better boxer than Oscar in his prime. No way, Oscar was one of the best of all time. Oscar in his prime would have beat me in boxing like easily. But because I'm younger than him and I think I have less mileage than he does, I think it would make a fair fight and I think I would have beat him in boxing."
Check out Georges St-Pierre's comments from the 37:05 mark below:
Why did Georges St-Pierre vs. Oscar De La Hoya did not come to fruition?
During the Pound 4 Pound podcast, Georges St-Pierre also explained why the talks of him fighting Oscar De la Hoya in a boxing match fell through.
'Rush' shared that UFC CEO Dana White's strained relationship with 'The Golden Boy' was one of the reasons for the fight not happening.
St-Pierre added that although he had retired from the sport, he was still under contract with the UFC at the time and that also became an obstacle in him fighting De La Hoya:
"It did not happen because Dana White hates Oscar De La Hoya. And my contract... the way it was made was, I still had ties with the UFC [at the time], when I asked." [38:05 onwards]