Oscar De La Hoya: Boxing Legend Picks Ghanaian as Hardest Hitting Puncher He Ever Faced

• Oscar De La Hoya has opened up on his fight with Ike Quartey
• The American boxer fought Quartey in 1999
• De La Hoya insists the fight was the toughest of his career

Former American boxer, Oscar De La Hoya has revisited his time in the ring, reminiscing on his toughest fight.

The 1992 Olympic Gold medalist faced some of the greats in the sport, including Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquaio. De La Hoya also fought Bernard Hopkins in one of the biggest fights of the welterweight division.

Despite losing to some of the best in the game, it was during his fight against Ghanaian boxer Ike Quartey that he struggled.

According to De La Hoya, he was rattled by Quartey, and every punch that he took felt like bricks hitting him.

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"His punches were like bricks," De La Hoya told The Ring.

"He hit me and it would sting me. Every punch he would hit me with, it would rattle me."

"Not only was it powerful, it was very consistent," he added.

The fight between Quartey, nicknamed Bazooka, travelled to the final round and had to be decided on points. De La Hoya won at the end of the bout.

However, he was knocked down twice, with the American also getting Quartey to the canvas in the later rounds.

De La Hoya's career started taking a turn after that fight.

The Golden Boy, as he is affectionately called, ended his career with a record of 39 wins in 45 fights.

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Ike Quartey reacts to viral photos

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Earlier, Sports Brief reported that former WBA Welterweight champion, Quartey assured Ghanaians that everything is fine with him after photos of him looking 'wretched' went viral.

Photos of Quartey recently popped up on social media, showing him to be very different from what Ghanaians know him to be, a clean-shaven man.

In one of the photos, which had him seated with Azumah Nelson, Quartey looked visibly older than Azumah, even though the latter is eleven years older. Azumah was born on July 19, 1958, while Quartey was born on November 27, 1969.