Oscar De La Hoya posting a video to show how bad his Covid-19 battle affected him has been greeted with considerable questions from Vitor Belfort’s team.
Now facing 58-year-old Evander Holyfield this weekend, Belfort recently lost out on a money-spinning Los Angeles battle with the eleven-time world champion.
Derik Santos, the trainer of the UFC legend, says De La Hoya‘s clip aired on his social media channels looked suspect.
“I’m not trying to disrespect Oscar, I saw the video of Oscar, but if I’m being honest, I’m still skeptical,” Santos told Vegas Insider.
“Something about it didn’t seem right. The level of how bad it looked. I know you can still get COVID if you’re double vaccinated, but it didn’t seem right.
“Maybe he realized we were taking the fight seriously. I don’t know.”
On the possibility of the pair fighting at a later date, Santos sees the lack of offers from De La Hoya as a clear sign the Golden Boy boss didn’t really want to fight.
“As far as I know, their side didn’t try to jump out and reschedule as others have. So yeah, I’m a little skeptical.
“I think he thought: ‘what I have got myself into’ – he even posted this. We were going in there to give him a very good boxing match.
“We were ready. If the man does have COVID, then I wish him a good recovery. I’m just mildly skeptical.”
OSCAR DE LA HOYA RECOVERED
De La Hoya was home and recovering within 48 hours of posting from the hospital, looking as though he would end up in ICU.
This worst-case never happened, and symptoms have since eased quickly for the 48-year-old.
Only Oscar De La Hoya himself knows the absolute truth of what went down, But at almost 50 and seeing the shape Belfort was in, who could blame the former world champion if he did.
Over the past eighteen months, De La Hoya has called out Gennadiy Golovkin, Canelo Alvarez, and many others – only to cancel his comeback altogether.
WBN believes we will never see him back in the ring again. Due to his track record outside of the ropes, this scenario is a good thing in the long run.
Holyfield, who has wanted to fight every day since retiring in 2011, is a different species altogether. He wants to fight no matter what and will risk his future health in doing so.
Let’s hope Belfort goes a bit easier on him.
The views expressed in this article are opinions of Phil Jay.
