Are Oscar de la Hoya's days numbered?

            After losing another big name fight (this time to Bernard Hopkins and by KO), everybody is wondering what Oscar de la Hoya is going to next. He suggested retirement if he won, but after another loss, he has no game plans whatsoever at this moment. So what's a slumping fighter to do?

            Should de la Hoya continue fighting, he should starting training to fight 2 maybe even 3 middleweight 'unknowns" so he can have his rematch with Hopkins. The problem is Hopkins is 39 and if de la Hoya were to beat the 2 or 3 middleweights, Hopkins would be in retirement. So who should de la Hoya fight then in order for him to be considered one of the top fighters in the world once again?  He could have his rematch with Felix Trinidad if he were to come back (and there's a lot of talk about that); Felix would also have to be a middleweight to have the rematch.Felix Sturm, whom many believed defeated de la Hoya (Sturm lost by decision), could have a rematch but he would not certainly be an unknown. It seems as if de la Hoya has nothing to prove anymore.

             Should de la Hoya retire, it would end on a bad note after losing 4 out of 6 matches (I think), but no one would dispute that he was one of the top fighters of his time, if not the best of the decade. After demolishing the competition at Barcelona to his undefeated days as a pro, Oscar de la Hoya was (and still is) considered one of the top draws in all of boxing, if not of all sports.  Yet recently, he may have lost his touch.  At 31, Oscar de la Hoya is no longer the feared fighter that he once was. What could've ended his career as undefeated, Oscar seems to be more human now and increasingly becoming a paper tiger. So what's Oscar de la Hoya to do? As mentioned, he can either continue fighting with lower expectations or retire on top, yet on a bad note. Either way, it seems that he has past his prime and his days as 'The Golden Boy from East L.A." are over.

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