De La Hoya rules out comeback: 'I dodged a bullet' by not facing Belfort

Oscar De La Hoya won't be coming out of retirement after all.

The former world boxing champion and current Golden Boy promoter said Wednesday he's happy he didn't fight former UFC champion Vitor Belfort in 2021, and he doesn't plan to return to the ring.

"I'm done. ... I'm actually glad I didn't come back," De La Hoya said on "The MMA Hour."

"I'm glad I didn't fight this monster of a fighter because he's a big guy, he knows what he's doing, he's talented. As old as we were, we still can throw punches. We saw it with Evander Holyfield where (Belfort) knocked him out. So I think I dodged a bullet there."

The 49-year-old was scheduled to headline a Triller event against Belfort, 45, last September. De La Hoya withdrew about a week before the fight after testing positive for COVID-19, and former heavyweight champ Holyfield stepped in. Belfort defeated Holyfield by first-round TKO.

De La Hoya, whose last pro bout came in a loss to Manny Pacquiao in 2008, had announced back in summer 2020 that he was planning a comeback. He targeted matchups with the likes of Floyd Mayweather, Gennady Golovkin, Georges St-Pierre, and even UFC president Dana White.

The ex-champ said he was "lying to himself" while preparing for the scheduled Belfort fight. He said he was in great shape but got hit too much during sparring sessions, implying he wasn't fit to compete.

"I think my ego got a little bit of me as a fighter," De La Hoya said. "Being in the ring, to me, is my safe zone. It's everything to me. Nobody can touch me in there. I feel safe.

"So the fact that I wanted to get in the ring and train and feel that adrenaline, it kind of like took over me mentally. I believed that I could really do this. And that's obviously the nemesis of a fighter: When your mind tells you, 'Yes, you can do it,' but your body is just not responding."

With his boxing career over for good, De La Hoya's focus is once again on promoting the top talent in the sport.

"Now I can just sit back and relax and grow some grey hairs promoting fighters," De La Hoya said.