Floyd Mayweather got lucky he didn't run into Oscar De La Hoya a couple years earlier, 'cause if he had, he'd have gotten his ass KNOCKED OUT ... so says Oscar himself.
The two men fought in 2007, when Oscar was 34 and Floyd was 30, and the fight ended in a hotly contested split decision ... although most thought Mayweather was the clear winner.
When we spoke with "Sugar" Shane Mosely -- who fought both guys -- he told us Oscar was clearly the better fighter in his prime and would have beaten Floyd if they fought a few years earlier.