Oscar De La Hoya pleads Floyd Mayweather to stop 'embarrassing' exhibition bouts

From one boxing legend to another, Oscar De La Hoya is pleading Floyd Mayweather to hang up the gloves for good.

Mayweather retired from professional boxing after he defeated MMA star Conor McGregor in 2017, bringing his perfect record to 50 wins. Although Mayweather never set foot in the ring again as a professional fighter, he has stayed busy doing exhibition bouts with celebrities and influencers.

Mayweather’s most recent one was on Aug. 24, when he went the distance with John Gotti III in Mexico City. The fight was ruled a no result, given it was an exhibition bout, so no scoring was involved. It was an uneventful fight that had no knockdowns and plenty of boos.

De La Hoya is not keen on Mayweather’s exhibitions, and would like to see him stop.

“Floyd Mayweather fought another exhibition against Gotti last Saturday, a real sh*t show that left the crowd booing in the arena at the end,” De La Hoya said on his Instagram. “In the middle of the second round, Floyd literally had the referee swapped out. He didn’t like that the referee told him to stop hitting behind the head. Floyd is used to having the refs do whatever he wants, and he wasn’t getting his way this time.

“It was so embarrassing. Floyd, you’re 50 years old. You’re a legend in this sport, and I’ve stood up for you in countless interviews, including Shannon Sharpe’s podcast last week. But you have to stop embarrassing yourself with these exhibitions. I know life i hard and life is expensive, but come one man, put your legacy first. Nobody wants to remember you like this.”

Mayweather has fought in eight exhibition bouts since retiring professionally from boxing. The multiple-time former champion hasn’t shown any intention of stopping these exhibition bouts.

De La Hoya and Mayweather share more than the boxing promotor space. The two fought back in 2007 for the WBC middleweight title in a blockbuster fight. Mayweather defeated De La Hoya via split decision.