The most fascinating subplot prior to the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight was whether Mayweather’s father would train De La Hoya for it.

De La Hoya and Mayweather Sr. wanted to work together for what emerged as the most profitable fight in boxing history at that time. It would’ve made for one of the most surreal situations imaginable if Mayweather Sr. would’ve tried to help De La Hoya knock out his son, who was trained by his late uncle, Roger Mayweather.

The elder Mayweather wanted $2 million for that unusual assignment, though, which led De La Hoya to hire Freddie Roach to prepare him for that 12-round, 154-pound championship match in May 2007. Boxing experts speculated that Mayweather, who typically had earned in the low-six figures or mid-six figures for training De La Hoya, demanded that much money because he didn’t really want to go against his son.

“The Golden Boy” recalled that negotiation during a recent appearance on CBS Sports’ “State Of Combat” podcast, hosted by Brian Campbell.

“That was actually very true,” De La Hoya said of Mayweather Sr.’s desire to train him for that fight. “We didn’t come to terms with the money, and that’s what derailed our plan. But Floyd Sr. was willing to train me to beat his son.”

The younger Mayweather edged De La Hoya by split decision in their 12-rounder and won the WBC super welterweight title at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Tuesday marked the 13th anniversary of Mayweather’s win over De La Hoya.

Mayweather Sr. and De La Hoya reunited for his following fight, a 12-round, unanimous-decision defeat of Steve Forbes in May 2008 at Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Mexico’s Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain trained De La Hoya for what turned out to be his final fight seven months later – a one-sided, technical-knockout loss to Manny Pacquiao – because Mayweather Sr. had committed to training Ricky Hatton for his fight against Paulie Malignaggi at the same time De La Hoya was preparing for the Pacquiao fight.

De La Hoya still has fond memories of the strong professional partnership he developed with Mayweather Sr., who trained him from 2001-2008, except for De La Hoya’s loss to Mayweather Jr.

“You know why?,” De La Hoya said of why they worked well together. “Because he didn’t take no sh*t from me. Mayweather Sr. would tell me in my face, directly, like, ‘You’re gonna do this. You’re gonna do that. If you don’t wanna do it, then I’m out of here.’ And I respected him. And that’s who Floyd Mayweather Sr. was.”

Mayweather Sr. also reunited with Mayweather Jr. for several fights toward the end of the five-division champion’s career.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.