Eight years ago Dana White convinced UFC superstar Chuck Liddell to retire due to fears about his health after a series of knockout losses inside the Octagon, but though the UFC president has voiced his concerns at ‘The Iceman returning to the cage for a trilogy fight against Tito Ortiz this weekend under the Golden Boy banner it seems that Oscar De La Hoya disagrees.
“Being a fighter myself, I would never, ever, like somebody to tell me that I should retire,” the boxing superstar turned promoter told MMAjunkie. “You never tell a fighter to retire. That’s his business. It’s the fighter’s business.
“Imagine if I would have told George Foreman to retire. Imagine if I would have told Bernard Hopkins at 51 years old to retire. He would have never won the world title. Imagine somebody tells Floyd (Mayweather), you’re already 40 years old, you should retire. You don’t tell fighters to retire. It’s in their blood. It’s in their heart.”
“Chuck Liddell has earned it,” De La Hoya continued. “He’s looking in phenomenal shape; he’s training like there’s no tomorrow. He wants to build a team and have this trilogy with Tito, which I strongly feel is going to be one of the best trilogies that’s ever taken place in the MMA world. So let it be.”
