Oscar De La Hoya: Boxing's Golden Boy
Oscar De La Hoya’s Profile: Life, Record, Age, Net Worth, and More…
Before Floyd Mayweather became known as “Money”, there was another boxer that was setting PPV sales through the roof; boxing’s Golden Boy: Oscar De La Hoya.
One of Mexico’s greatest exports, Oscar De La Hoya is a former Olympic gold medalist and has won world championships in six divisions, under the WBO, WBC, and IBF banners.
De La Hoya went undefeated for almost 7 years with 31 straight wins. He would end his illustrious career with a record of 39 wins and just 6 losses, after competing for 16 years.
So, let’s take a moment to revisit the career of one of the sport’s biggest, and most controversial superstars.
Oscar De La Hoya’s Early Life
Oscar was born on February 4, 1973, in East Los Angeles, California to Mexican immigrants. Growing up in a crime-infested neighbourhood was no excuse for the youngster to play the game himself. As he was from a family of boxers, his father and older brother encouraged him to train in the sport as well.
However, De La Hoya did more than just train, he excelled at it, and turned out to be a natural at boxing. He is said to have fought his first match, as young as five years old. He made the Hollenbeck Youth Center Gym, which was converted from an old church, his happy place.
When he saw his hometown hero Paul Gonzales clinch Olympic gold at the 84’s Summer Games, he realized he wanted to make his hobby a career. As he grew more and more into a blue-chipper, his dad got him under the tutelage of Al Stankie, a trainer of Olympians.
Oscar De La Hoya’s Career
Oscar De La Hoya’s Amateur Career
Oscar’s amateur record saw him knocking out of 163 fighters, with 223 wins in total. He won gold at multiple large-scale events from 1989 to 1991, such as the National Championships, the Olympic Cup, and the Goodwill Games, all in the 57kg weight class.
His biggest victory would come at the 1992 Summer Olympics, where he won the gold medal that he promised his late mother before she succumbed to breast cancer.
Oscar De La Hoya’s Pro Career
1992 was full of ups and downs for the youngster, as he had to change his coach and manager due to some complications. However, his Olympic exploits resulted in him being offered numerous pro-fight deals.
A 19-year-old De La Hoya knocked out Lamar Williams in the very first round and made his first professional $200k paycheck.
Over the next few months, Oscar beat a number of insignificant fighters, but opponents nonetheless, to bolster his record to 7-0, with just one of those fights being a decision win. His next fight was against a former champion in Troy Dorsey in his first-ever ten-round matchup. Oscar however just needed one, and he stopped Dorsey in about three minutes.
Oscar De La Hoya’s Superstardom
As his record climbed to 12-0, his stock value grew enough for him to be offered a title shot. The 20-year-old De La Hoya would win the WBO Super Featherweight title by knocking out fellow undefeated hotshot Jimmy Bredahl. After a third-round stoppage of Giorgio Campanella in his first title defence, he decided to move up in weight classes.
De La Hoya then won the vacant WBO Lightweight title by knocking out former champion Jorge Páez in the second round. He then stopped Carl Griffith and John Avila in back-to-back title defences and won his second-ever decision victory against John John Molina.
He then set his sights on the IBF lightweight title, and won hence came his first-ever PPV bout against Rafael Ruelas. Both of their titles were on the line, and Oscar dominated him to unify both the Lightweight belts. He then vacated the belt and defended his WBO title against contender Genaro Hernández. Oscar beat him and ended his career after smashing his nose.
After wins against Jesse James Leija, and Darryl Tyson, Oscar wanted more of a challenge. He moved up to the welterweight class and challenged boxing superstar Julio César Chávez for his WBC light welterweight championship. After bloodying him for four rounds, he won the belt after a TKO. This bout got Oscar more embraced by the Latin community.
He then got back-to-back decision wins against Mexican sensation Miguel Ángel González, and Pernell Whitaker. He won the WBC welterweight title from the latter, but it left a lot of his weaknesses exposed. He quickly knocked out David Kamau to retain the belt a while later. Then came his 12-round decision win against former champ Hector Camacho, and an eighth-round stoppage of Wilfredo Rivera.
Being ranked as the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world, he dismantled Patrick Charpentier and then won a rematch against Julio Chávez via TKO. Ike Quartey was his next obstacle; De La Hoya made quite a comeback to knock him out despite being injured. He then went 11 rounds to knock out Oba Carr.
Oscar De La Hoya’s Losses
Oscar’s first loss came in his severely hyped fight with Felix Trinidad that broke all non-heavyweight PPV records. While he kept Trinidad at bay for half the fight, he lost a majority decision to him. After wrecking Derrell Coley in the seventh round, for the IBA welterweight title, he lost to the WBC Welterweight champ "Sugar" Shane Mosley in an entertaining bout.
After an eight-month break, Oscar returned to the ring and impressively won four matches in a row in three years. He won numerous light-middleweight championships in the process. He then had a rematch against Mosley, where he lost a decision after gassing out. He then moved to the middleweight division.
After taking out Felix Sturm in a tough battle, he got KO’d for the first time in a good effort against Bernard Hopkins, losing the remainder of his titles. Two years later, he beat Ricardo Mayorga for the WBC light middleweight title and lost it a year later to the man who would break his PPV sales: Floyd Mayweather Jr.
He then returned a year later to go the distance with and beat Steve Forbes. He would lose his final match against boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao.
With that, Oscar ended his career with a record of 39-6, and world championships in six divisions, while also being one of the greatest PPV draws in boxing history. He might make a comeback soon though.
Oscar De La Hoya Outside of boxing
De La Hoya is worth about $200 million and has generated $700 million worth of sales. While away from boxing, he invested in real estate, sports teams, apparel, and other ventures. He also owns Golden Boy Promotions, which is one of the sport’s top promotions and media outlets.
De La Hoya is active on social media and has also donated millions to charity. He has also had his fair share of legal troubles and disputes, despite his “gentleman nature in the sport”.
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