‘He needs to stop’: Fears for De La Hoya after boxing champ slurs his way through big fight commentary gig, rants about comeback

Fans have mocked and cheered Oscar De La Hoya and voiced concerns for the welfare of the former world champion with a troubled past, watching on as he produced an occasionally-incoherent performance on live television commentary.

The 11-time title winner was on entertaining yet erratic form as he provided punditry and analysis of Steve Cunningham's win over Frank Mir in Atlanta, strewn with long pauses between words, intent stares at his colleagues and the camera and an audible insistence that broadcasters should "put my face on screen more".

Having recently announced that he will be returning to the ring in July, the 48-year-old made a series of outlandish outbursts about what to expect from his comeback and repeatedly stumbled over the nickname of former serviceman Cunningham, known as 'USS'.

"You can expect a f***ing real fight," a glaze-eyed De La Hoya thundered to the commentary team when he was asked about his forthcoming bout.

Warning: video contains swearing

"Whoever I pick to be my opponent, you can bet your ass I'm going to be the best motherf***** out there. I don't care who it is: I will fight to the end, I will bleed to the end."

Asked what had inspired his return, he paid tribute to former heavyweight champion Tyson, who made his own comeback against Roy Jones Jr last year but was not at the arena for Cunningham's fight.

"Mike Tyson," De La Hoya shot back. "Mike Tyson, I love you. I love you, Mike Tyson."

While most viewers made fun of De La Hoya's shambolic showing, which included tirades about the fighters' tactics during the scrap while calling them "baby", others worried that the former alcoholic and drug addict's past troubles had returned.

De la Hoya was replaced by rapper Snoop Dogg on co-commentary for the next fight on the card, between Regis Prograis and Ivan Redkach, although it was unclear whether the switch had been planned before the program.

"I’m looking forward to Oscar De La Hoya fighting on the next [broadcaster] Triller card, just so I don’t have to listen to his awful nonsense on the mic," said former UFC fighter Dan Hardy, comparing De La Hoya to a notorious Colombian drug lord.

"The man sounds like he’s been Pablo Escobar’s quality control for the last ten years."

Ex-UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen scorned to his Twitter following of more than 638,000: "Triller is painful.

"So far I'm wishing I'd spent the night watching [sitcom] I Love Lucy episodes or hitting my hand with a hammer. Oscar should take up bowling so he can be annoying in another sport."