Oscar De La Hoya Names His Top 3 Pound-For-Pound Boxers

KEY POINTS

Oscar De La Hoya named his top 3 pound-for-pound boxers
De La Hoya puts Canelo Alvarez at no. 1
De La Hoya thinks Terence Crawford and Vasyl Lomachenko are tied and could go either no. 2 or 3

Golden Boy Promotions CEO and boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya named his current top three pound-for-pound boxers.

For decades, nobody in boxing has really put an end to the pound-for-pound king debate. There are an array of boxers who have accomplished so much but one way or another, there is someone who will always emerge as a better fighter. In a recent media scrum (via Elie Seckbach of EsNews), Olympic gold medalist and boxing legend De La Hoya was asked to settle the debate and name the top three boxers in his pound-for-pound rankings.

As expected, De La Hoya named Golden Boy star and multi-division champ Saul “Canelo” Alvarez as the no. 1 pound-for-pound king. According to De La Hoya, he puts Canelo above everybody else simply because the Mexican star always wants to fight the “very best.” The 47-year-old promoter further justified his assessment by claiming Canelo never asked how much is he going to make in each fight and only cares about beating the best fighter available.

“I have to put Canelo there first just because of who he has been fighting and who he wants to fight. I strongly feel that Canelo is the only guy that wants to fight the very best. Every other fighter, the first question they ask is ‘how much money are we gonna make?’ Canelo doesn’t even ask that he’s just ‘I wanna fight the best’,” De La Hoya explained.

De La Hoya then continued and said that current WBO welterweight champ Terence Crawford and three-weight world champion Vasyl Lomachenko come right after Canelo. The legend thinks that Crawford and Lomachenko are “tied” or could go either second or third in his pound-for-pound rankings.

“Crawford and Lomachenko are tied. I think Crawford has the potential to be a megastar, a superstar because of his abilities, his craft. I think (Lomachenko) is a tremendous fighter and I think he can fight at 140 if he wants to as well and do well,” De La Hoya stated.

After officially retiring from boxing, De La Hoya became one of the most successful promoters in the world. Despite stepping away from the ring, De La Hoya has often teased for a comeback every now and then. Just recently, De La Hoya got linked to UFC star Conor McGregor. The Hall of Famer claimed he could knockout McGregor in “2 rounds” to which the former UFC champ responded saying "I accept your challenge.” However, De La Hoya addressed the issue and said he never said that there was a challenge.