Richard Schaefer calls Ricky Hatton-Oscar De la Hoya story B.S.
Don’t hold your breath for a fight between recent retirees Ricky Hatton and Oscar De la Hoya.
Tuesday Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer denied reports made in dailymail.co.uk that Golden Boy matchmaker, Roberto Diaz, had offered Ricky Hatton a proposal to fight De la Hoya in the near future.
Schaefer told Fanhouse: "I am with Oscar in Mexico, and we both read that story, and I called Roberto Diaz, and asked him about it and where that came from, and he claimed that he never made those statements, and that he doesn't know where it's coming from,"
Schaefer clarified.
He continued: "The fact is that there is absolutely no truth to any of it. There is absolutely no truth to those stories or rumors about Oscar fighting Ricky Hatton. Oscar is retired. I talked to Roberto Diaz, and he said that he never made those comments.
So, it's all BS."
Hatton, 32, hasn’t been in the ring since he was knocked out in the second round by Manny Pacquiao in May 2009.
De la Hoya, 37, also fought Pacquiao in last fight, which he opted out of after the eighth round.
Following the spread of the original story Tuesday, Diaz also contacted Rick Reeno of boxingscene.com to deny the information.
"There is no truth to it,” Diaz told Reeno. “I did spend some time out there for the David Haye fight and I did spend a lot of time with Ricky. We spoke about family and soccer and food and we joked around, but we never spoke about boxing.”
Diaz added: "We never discussed him coming back. There were even reporters who came up to me and asked me if I want to see Ricky back. As a fan, I said that I would like to see Ricky come back, but that decision can't be made by me. Ricky is the one who
has to make that decision."
Hatton has warded off claims of a permanent retirement, despite those closest to him, such as brother Matthew, stating publicly that a return to the ring is unlikely.
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