Oscar De La Hoya Announces Boxing Comeback: 'The Rumors Are True'

Oscar De La Hoya has officially announced that he is coming out of retirement to make a comeback inside the ring. After several reports hinted on his return, the Golden Boy delightedly confirmed on Wednesday that he is indeed stepping back into competitive boxing at 47 years old.

"The rumors are true, and I'm going to start sparring in the next few weeks," De La Hoya told ESPN. "It's a real fight," he said. "I miss being in the ring, I love boxing. Boxing is what gave me everything I have today, and I just miss it."

De La Hoya has not fought since a then primed Manny Pacquiao sent him to retirement in 2008. Almost 12 years later, he continues to rue the way he was forced to hang his gloves up; but now that he feels he is in the best shape to continue his fighting chronicle, the six-division world champion aims to rewrite the narrative before eventually capping his career on his terms.

"Look, my last fight with Pacquiao, I weighed in at 145 and obviously that was a shell of myself," he said. "Look, it's been a long time, yes. But actually my jab feels faster than ever. I have to make sure that my conditioning is perfect, my health is good. And that's going to take place in the next few weeks. So we'll see."

On what leverage he thinks he has compared to a much younger pool of professional boxers today, De La Hoya said the old-fashioned work ethic that he continues to possess is still the absolute edge even in today’s modern fighting scene where money, as he described, has become predominant.

"All these fighters are not of the level that was 15, 20 years (ago), all these fighters are demanding so much money, all these fighters are demanding the moon," said De La Hoya. "And they're forgetting that you must train hard, you must work hard.

“So that's a huge advantage for me because I know what it takes to train hard, I know how to train smart. I know how to fight smart in the ring.

"These guys are in it just for the money -- that'll be the big difference. I will fight for the glory, and these guys only fight for the money. And guess what? The glory will always win."

Perhaps not wanting to commit the same mistake in his last bout, De La Hoya said he plans to fight between 154-160 pounds in his return as he looks forward to facing “any top guy” in the division.

The Mexican-American is the latest boxing icon to make a comeback following Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr., who are scheduled for an exhibition match in November.