De La Hoya Better Than Floyd Mayweather In His Prime: Shane Mosley

Oscar de la Hoya was a better boxer than Floyd Mayweather during his prime, according to former three-division champion Shane Mosley.

De La Hoya experienced his best years during the nineties as he would win multiple division titles and was 31-0 at one point, with notable wins over Julio Cesar Chavez (twice), Pernell Whittaker and Ike Quartey to name a few.

He would eventually suffer his first loss to Felix Trinidad via majority decision in 1999 before going on to lose five more times in his career — notably twice to Mosley in 2000 and 2003 via split and unanimous decision respectively and once to Mayweather via split decision in 2008.

Mayweather, meanwhile, would remain undefeated throughout his professional career and is regarded by many as arguably the greatest boxer of all time with his 50-0 record.

However, Mosley, who suffered a unanimous decision defeat to Mayweather in 2010, believes had De La Hoya fought "Money" during his prime, it may have been a different result.

"In his prime, definitely I would say Oscar was better," Mosley said, as per Boxing Scene. "He was more physical and faster, and he had more punching power."

While it is debatable as to whether De La Hoya in his prime could defeat Mayweather, it's also entirely possible Mosley is bigging himself up by stating a fighter he beat twice was better than a fighter who beat him.

Despite losing a unanimous decision, Mosley delivered a rare moment when he wobbled Mayweather during the second round of the fight.

However, that was the only good moment of the fight for him and as he was 38 at the time, "Sugar" believes Mayweather would not have been able to handle him if they fought a few years earlier.

"I thought I was too strong for Mayweather and too fast," Mosley explained. "I had too many different weapons that he couldn’t get out of the way of. He couldn’t get out of the way of a lot of those shots because I would have been throwing a lot more shots [than I did when we fought]. I would have been constantly pressuring him and being on him."

Mosley did show respect for Mayweather's ability though, and believes he was the king of his era.

"Look, Mayweather is a great fighter and you can’t take that from him. In his era, he did really good. I believe I would have been able to beat him had it been a different time, but I don’t take anything away from him. He was undefeated and he beat everyone he needed to beat. He was the king of his era," he added.

As for Mayweather and De La Hoya, they are both retired and work as promoters; however, they still do not like each other and continue to take shots at each other.

"The same guy that calls me a woman beater, is this the same guy that was committing adultery? Is this the same guy?!...Is this the same guy who has admitted to being a coke head?" Mayweather said of De La Hoya in December. "Is this the same guy who admitted to being an alcoholic? Is this the same guy that tried to stop the Conor McGregor fight? He tried to stop the Conor McGregor fight, now he wants to fight McGregor..."