I couldn’t walk for two weeks after Ike Quartey fight – Oscar De La Hoya

Retired American boxing star Oscar “The Golden Boy” De La Hoya has revealed to New York radio show The Breakfast Club that his bout with Ghanaian great Ike “Bazooka” Quartey took a heavy toll on his health for two weeks, and subsequently informed the direction in his boxing career.

In February 1999, De La Hoya defeated Ike Quartey in a close match at the Thomas & Mack center in Las Vegas, Nevada. De La Hoya, who’s also CEO of “Golden Boy Promotions”, reveals that the match broke him physically, as he was left nursing himself back to full shape for a whole fortnight.

“I was fighting this kid, Ike Quartey. He was from Africa, from Ghana. And he was tough a tough son of a…I mean, this guy was tough, and h hit me with everything. He dropped me twice, I think i dropped him three times, and I think I needed the last round to win, and I finally won.

But I couldn’t walk for like two weeks afterwards, because I was so sore and it was painful. And right there and then, I said to myself: I need something to do after boxing, and so, what can I do? Let me become a promoter, and help these young guys to establish their own careers”, De La Hoya went on.

De La Hoya is currently promoting a September 16 super-clash between Canelo Álvarez vs. Gennady Glolovkin (GGG).