Oscar De La Hoya agrees with Bob Arum for bringing reforms to the sport – Boxing news
Former boxer Oscar De La Hoya finds himself on the same page as of Bob Arum when it comes to bringing reforms in boxing.
Even though Arum and Hoya usually have conflicting opinions, this time, they are finally together. While talking about the controversial split decision win of Timothy Bradley over Manny Pacquiao, Hoya agreed to the fact that boxing, as a sport, needs some
alterations to flourish.
According to Hoya, “I think the first step in helping the sport is getting better judges, get younger judges. Go out there and recruit new judges with training. It doesn't take a lot to judge a fight. When you have 99.9 percent of the fans watching and saying
Pacquiao won, why is it you only have three judges say Bradley won? It's a matter of training these judges to make the right call.”
When asked if he believes Pacquiao won against Bradley, he answered, “There's no doubt about it. I watched it over and over again. I turned down the volume, I turned up the volume, I put it up on giant screen TV, anything. I thought Manny Pacquiao won the
fight.”
It should be noted here that a week back, Oscar De La Hoya had suggested Bradley to give up his title in the spirit of keeping the sport fair.
However, Bradley, in his recent interview, replied to Hoya’s statement saying that by giving up the title he will lose his credibility.
When Hoya was asked if Bradley had fought had well against Pacquiao, the former pugilist replied positively, appreciating Bradley’s efforts of going head to head with the world’s most explosive fighter yet surviving all ten rounds.
Oscar De La Hoya knows exactly how powerful and speedy Manny Pacquiao is, as he suffered a knockout defeat at the hands of Pacquiao some years back.
For now, Hoya is of the view that modifications in the scoring process and selection of judges are required to make sure the sport lives up to the expectations. Not only Hoya, many other fighters and analysts are of the same view as well.
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