BoxRec

When De La Hoya and Pacquiao couldn't come to an agreement regarding the purse split, the negotiations for their fight hit the roadblock.

That's when the Mora option came in to play. Mora was ready to accept a lesser offer for a chance to fight DLH.

De La Hoya-Mora also would've been a title fight, as Mora was holding the WBC 154lbs belt. Oscar wouldn't have to drain himself to 147, as he (eventually) had to for a Manny bout.

But there was also a roadblock on Mora's side, as he was obliged to give Vernon Forrest an immediate rematch. Forrest wasn't all too willing to step aside to allow De La Hoya-Mora to happen.

But let's say Forrest would've somehow stepped aside, Oscar and Manny still wouldn't have come to an agreement on purse split and Oscar-Mora would've eventually taken place.

With De La Hoya-Mora taking place at full 154 - how would you expect it to go?

Would Oscar win his farewell bout (and Mora's title)?

Would've been a better fight, but Oscar may still have lost it. Not having to drain to 147 is big though. If not draining helped him to produce an effort at least as good as he was able to produce against Mayweather the year before then that would've been enough to take Mora.

It's hard to imagine what might've been there, but I'm sure he would've been significantly fresher, and more energetic at 154 as opposed to 147.

Mora by UD.

In my estimation, Oscar fighting at 154 and not being drained would've been a factor in De La Hoya-Mora. I also think DLH could've won it because of 2 things.

1. Yes, Oscar was past it regardless at that point. But I don't believe he could've regressed that much just a year after giving Floyd a decent fight.

As he started trimming down to welterweight in preparation for the Mayweather rematch (which, as we know, never happened) - that's when things completely went downhill for him, IMO.

He didn't look all that good against Steve Forbes (150lbs catchweight). And, of course, he looked even worse against Manny (when he squeezed to 147 and didn't rehydrate).

2. Mora wasn't able to separate himself from a past it Mosley. And make no mistake, Shane didn't look all-right that night. Even Nazeem Richardson recognized it and said it to Mosley in the corner. The win was there for Serg and he didn't grab it.

Something tells me, that De La Hoya would've pressed a tad harder for the win, than Mosley did that night.

Conclusion: I still might favour Mora in late 2008. But it would've been a very winnable farewell fight for ODLH.