Oscar De La Hoya Tells Mike Tyson He’s ‘Miserable’ in Retirement: Without Boxing I’ll ‘Destroy My Life’

Forty-eight-year-old boxing Hall-of-Famer Oscar De La Hoya is preparing for his return to the sport, after telling Mike Tyson retirement was “f*cking miserable.”

“Boxing is like my savior, it’s all I know,” De La Hoya said on the Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson podcast. “When I’m not thinking about boxing, when I’m not thinking about fighting somebody or training, it’s like, f*ck what do I go do? I’m gonna go f*cking destroy my life.”

“You’re a smart guy,” Tyson said. “You can go into enterprise, business. Never destroy your life,” the volatile fighter added.

“For some reason we have something that’s built in our head, in our heart,” De La Hoya answered. “Business is good, family is good. But we’re always torn in-between, we’re always getting pulled here and getting pulled there. It’s like a balancing act.”

De La Hoya is planning a return to the ring in September, for an exhibition boxing match with ex-UFC champion Vitor Belfort. The bout is scheduled to take place Sept. 18, with Las Vegas as the probable location.

After getting two exhibitions under his belt, De La Hoya tells Tyson he’d like to have a real 12-round fight with either Floyd Mayweather or Canelo Alvarez. Mayweather is 44, and outside of his mocked exhibition with YouTuber Logan Paul, he’s retired from boxing. At 30-years-old, Alvarez is nearly two decades younger than De La Hoya and would likely embarrass the former “Golden Boy” of boxing.