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Oscar De La Hoya
Statistics
Real name	Oscar De La Hoya
Nickname(s)	Golden Boy
Rated at	Super Welterweight
Height	5 ft. 10
Nationality	American
Birth date	February 4, 1973 (1973-02-04) (age 35)
Birth place	East Los Angeles,CA
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	44
Wins	39
Wins by KO	30
Losses	5
Draws	0
No contests	0

Oscar De La Hoya (pronounced /ˈɒskər dɛlə ˈhɔɪə/^[1]) (born February 4, 1973) — nicknamed "The Golden Boy" — is an mexican american boxer and promoter who won a gold medal at the Barcelona Olympic Games. De La Hoya comes from a boxing family. His grandfather Vicente, father Joel Sr., and brother Joel Jr. were all boxers, but it was Oscar who took his boxing talent to superstar status. De La Hoya became Ring Magazine's "Fighter of the Year" in 1995 and Ring Magazine's top-rated Pound for Pound fighter in the world in 1997. De La Hoya has defeated seventeen world champions and has won ten world titles in six different weight classes.^[2][3] He has also generated more money than any other boxer in the history of the sport.^[4] De La Hoya's amateur career included 223 wins, 163 by way of knockout, with only 5 losses. He won the United States' only boxing gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics, by knocking down his opponent; a win which he dedicated to his deceased mother.^[5] De La Hoya is also the founder of Golden Boy Promotions, a combat sport promotional firm. He is the first American of Hispanic descent to own a national boxing promotional firm and one of only a handful of boxers in history who have taken on promotional responsibilities while still active.^[6]

Career

On November 23, 1992, De La Hoya made his professional debut, and in his twelfth professional fight, he won his first title, stopping Jimmy Bredahl in (TKO 10) to win the WBO junior lightweight title.^[7] He moved up a division several fights later, defeating Jorge Paez (KO 2) to win the WBO lightweight title, and in his first title defense he defeated former world champion John-John Molina (UD 12). Despite his early success, De La Hoya was criticized, with many dismissing his opposition as weak and noting that he had been knocked down several times early in fights.

This perception began to change when he faced IBF lightweight champion Rafael Ruelas in a unification bout. Many picked Ruelas to win, but De La Hoya knocked him out in the second round. Then in his next fight, he defeated the undefeated WBC super featherweight champion Genaro Hernandez. Hernandez had criticized De La Hoya heavily going into the bout, but De La Hoya broke his nose in the bout, forcing him to retire after the sixth round. On December 15, 1995, he defeated former champion Jesse James Leija. In total, De La Hoya successfully defended his lightweight title six times.

De La Hoya soon moved up in weight again to challenge WBC junior welterweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez, who was an idol to De La Hoya. Chavez believed he would win easily, as he had broken one of De La Hoya's ribs in a sparring session when De La Hoya was an amateur. But in the fight held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, De La Hoya cut Chavez's eye with a jab in the first round, and the fight was stopped in round four due to the cut. Because of this and his later victory over Chavez, De La Hoya has always received criticism from some Mexican fans. In his only defense of this title, De La Hoya defeated previously undefeated WBC lightweight champion Miguel Angel Gonzalez (W 12).

The Fight With Whitaker and the Welterweight Division

On April 4 1997, De La Hoya moved up in weight to challenge WBC welterweight champion [[Pernell Whitaker for pound fighter in the world. Despite being knocked down in the ninth round, De La Hoya rallied late to win a controversial unanimous decision by the scores of 115-111 and 116-110. He went on to defend the title. On June 14, 1997, De La Hoya defeated Hector Camacho via a unanimous decision.

The Quartey Fight

After once again defeating Chavez on September 18, 1998, by making the Mexican champion quit on his stool after eight rounds, De La Hoya defended his WBC title against undefeated former WBA welterweight champion Ike "Bazooka" Quartey. Beforehand, the fight was compared widely with the fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns in 1981, and was labeled "The Challenge".

The fight saw De La Hoya take a bad lead, and in the sixth, he knocked Quartey down with a left hook, only to be knocked down later in the round by a left uppercut. Quartey built a lead later in the fight, but in the twelfth round, De La Hoya knocked Quartey down a second time and dominated him till the final bell, winning the fight by split decision. This win and the effort showed in the final round won De La Hoya wide critical acclaim. Harold Letterman and Larry Merchant both scored the fight for Ike Quartey.

"The Fight of the Millennium"

After beating Oba Carr (TKO 11), De La Hoya signed to fight undefeated IBF welterweight champion Felix "Tito" Trinidad of Puerto Rico, a powerful knockout puncher who had made seventeen successful defenses of his title. The buildup to the fight was huge, and much anticipated. The nickname of the fight was chosen by De La Hoya's promoter, Bob Arum.

The fight took place on September 18, 1999 in Las Vegas. Many observers believed that De La Hoya had clearly outboxed Trinidad for the first nine rounds and was ahead on the judge's scorecards.^[8][9] So on the advice of his corner, De La Hoya chose to circle away and not fight back for the last three rounds, allowing Trinidad to land a few solid punches. When the scores were announced, Trinidad had won a majority decision, even though Compubox punch analysis credited De La Hoya with landing 263 punches to Trinidad's 166 punches. The AP also scored the bout 115-113 in favor of De La Hoya.^[10] De La Hoya was widely panned for the way he fought the last three rounds and his behavior after the Oscars.

Moving up to Junior Middleweight

After hiring Floyd Mayweather Sr. to be his trainer, De La Hoya fought as a welterweight once more, defeating Arturo Gatti (TKO 5); he then moved up to junior middleweight, challenging the Spanish WBC junior middleweight champion Javier Castillejo. De La Hoya dominated the fight, winning almost every round and knocking him down with ten seconds to go to win the title.

Shane Mosley

In 2000 De La Hoya's stock had not fallen very much despite his loss to Trinidad. In June he faced explosive former world lightweight champion Shane Mosley who he had lost to as an amateur. Mosley, utilising tremendous hand speed and power, won a 12-round split decision over De La Hoya in Los Angeles to claim the WBC welterweight title and unofficial moniker of pound-for-pound king. A 2003 rematch resulted in another loss for De La Hoya, which was disputed by many. According to Compubox, De La Hoya landed 221 of 616 (36%) total punches to 127 of 496 (26%) for Mosley.^[11]

Victor Conte, the founder of Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), has since accused Mosley of knowingly taking performance enhancing drugs prior to the 2003 bout against De La Hoya. He told the Los Angeles Times that Shane Mosley knew "exactly and precisely what he was doing" when he utilized BALCO's services. Jeff Novitzky, a lead investigator on the BALCO case, reported that document seized from the lab show that Mosley received "the clear" and "the cream", both designer steroids. Mosley maintains that he believed the products he was using from BALCO were legal vitamins and is suing Conte for libel.^[12][13] In May 2008, Mosley's former trainer, Derryl Hudson, supported Conte's allegations against Mosley. In a declaration that was used in Conte's motion to have the lawsuit dismissed, Hudson wrote, "I know that Mr. Mosley was aware that the performance-enhancing drugs provided to him by Mr. Conte were banned drugs because I discussed that fact with Mr. Mosley both during and after our visit to BALCO," ^[14]

Rivalry with Vargas

De La Hoya did not fight for the next 15 months, and in this time the rivalry between him and WBA junior middleweight champion "Ferocious" Fernando Vargas grew. They knew each other as amateurs and it is rumored that the rivalry began when Vargas was angered by De La Hoya laughing at him after he fell into a snowbank. Vargas called out De La Hoya for many years but Oscar said he would never fight him. Eventually however, Vargas's trash talking made De La Hoya take the fight. The fight was originally scheduled for early 2002, but De La Hoya had to withdraw because of a hand injury.

The unification bout, labeled "Bad Blood", finally took place on September 14, 2002, at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. For the first six rounds, the fight was even, with Vargas landing punches along the ropes in the odd rounds, while De La Hoya outboxed him in the even rounds. De La Hoya took over the fight in the seventh round, and hurt Vargas with a left hook in the tenth. Then in the next round, De La Hoya knocked him down with a left hook, and stopped him moments later. The win is widely considered to be the biggest win of De La Hoya's career. Vargas later tested positive for stanozolol after the fight.

De La Hoya then defended his unified title against Yori Boy Campas (KO 6), before facing Shane Mosley in a rematch. The rematch, billed as "Retribution" and staged at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, was much more of a boxing match than their first match, and many rounds were close, but many were still shocked when Mosley won a close unanmious decision, with all judges scoring the bout 115-113 in his favor.

Moving up to Middleweight

De la Hoya next challenged Felix Sturm for the WBO world middleweight title on June 5, 2004. Although it was a very controversial decision, he was awarded a unanimous decision and became the first boxer in history to win world titles in six different weight divisions. All three judges scored the bout 115-113 in favor of De La Hoya. Compubox statistics counted Sturm as landing 234 of 541 punches, while counting De La Hoya as landing 188 of 792. ^[15]

De La Hoya-Hopkins

De la Hoya then challenged for the WBC, WBA, and IBF middleweight championship and unsuccessfully defended his WBO title against modern legend Bernard Hopkins, then universally considered the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world, on September 18, 2004 in Las Vegas. Although the fight was fought at a catchweight of 157 pounds, many thought De La Hoya was way too small for the weight class and Hopkins was considered a heavy favorite.

Despite the odds and the fact that he was fighting with a cut on his left palm, De La Hoya fought a smart fight and was actually ahead 77-75 on one scorecard in the ninth round when Hopkins hit him a left hook to the liver, knocking De La Hoya down and resulting in the first knockout of De La Hoya's career. De la Hoya later said that he wasn't dizzy at all, but that he couldn't get up because the pain of a well placed livershot is unbearable. Despite this De La Hoya made over thirty million dollars from the fight, and months later Hopkins became a partner in De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions.

The Comeback Against Mayorga

De La Hoya then took the longest layoff of his career, twenty months, before signing to fight WBC junior middleweight champion Ricardo Mayorga. In the buildup to the fight, Mayorga insulted everything from De La Hoya's sexuality to his wife and child, but when they fought on May 6, 2006, De La Hoya knocked Mayorga down within the first minute of the fight with a left hook and knocked him out in the sixth round to take his tenth world title.

"The World Awaits"

Main article: De La Hoya-Mayweather

In early 2007, De La Hoya signed to defend his title against WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr., the man considered to be, pound for pound, the best fighter in the world. The fight sold out in three hours, and was hyped by a twelve city press tour and the critically acclaimed HBO series "De La Hoya/Mayweather 24/7". Mayweather was considered a two to one favorite in the fight.

The fight finally took place on May 5, 2007. De La Hoya pressed the fight early, doing his best when he used his lead left jab, but Mayweather's speed and accurate punches gave him the advantage later in the fight. De La Hoya did rally in the final round, but when the scorecards were announced, Mayweather won by a split decision. De La Hoya was widely praised for his performance, and was the first man to beat Mayweather on any official scorecard.

De La Hoya-Mayweather II

De La Hoya was in the works for a rematch with Mayweather that would take place on September 20, 2008, in Las Vegas. Before that, On May 3, 2008, at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, De La Hoya fought Steve Forbes in a "tuneup" bout. De La Hoya was in control throughout the bout as he used his jab effectively and opened a gash near Forbes' eye in the sixth round.^[16] The scorecards at the end of the fight were 119-109, 119-109, and 120-108. This has since been canceled due to the retirement of Mayweather.

After the retirement of Mayweather, Ricky Hatton was the new potential candidate to fight De La Hoya on September 20th. However, Hatton rejected the offer because he felt the scheduled date was too close to his last bout. He decided to pass on a fight in September to set the stage for a showdown against either Manny Pacquiao or Miguel Cotto.

De La Hoya-Pacquiao

It has been announced that De La Hoya and Pacquiao have agreed to fight December 6, 2008 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the fight will be at the welterweight limit of 147 lbs. On August 28, 2008 a press conference will be held by Golden Boy Promotions to officially announce the fight. However the press conference did not take place due to the talks with Manny broke down therfore Oscar has turned to light middle weight champion sergio mora. On 6th September another press conference will be held announcing who Oscar De La Hoya will have his final fight against. ^[17]

Wives and children

De la Hoya has 5 children:

• Shanna Moakler
  • Atiana Cecilia De La Hoya (b. March 29, 1999)
• Toni Alvarado
  • Jacob
• Angelique Mcqueen
  • Devon
• Millie De La Hoya
  • Oscar Gabriel (b. December 29, 2005)
  • Nina Lauren Nenitte (b. December 29, 2007)

Life outside the ring

In 2000 he released a Grammy-nominated CD, entitled Oscar De La Hoya. Released through EMI International. The self-titled CD is a Latin Pop album with thirteen tracks in both English and Spanish written by Diane Warren and the Bee-Gees.

On October 5, 2001, De La Hoya married Millie Corretjer. They have two children: son Oscar Gabriel (b. December 29, 2005)^[18] and daughter Nina Lauren Nenitte (b. December 29, 2007 in San Juan, Puerto Rico).^[19]

In 2002 De la Hoya produced a boxing show on American cable channel HBO: a Spanish-language boxing show called Boxeo de Oro.

In 2004 he debuted a clothing line of casual, and active-inspired apparel through Mervyns department stores. In the summer of 2004, De La Hoya starred in and hosted a boxing reality television series on Fox and Fox Sports Net titled The Next Great Champ.

In 2005, Golden Boy Enterprises announced the formation of Golden Boy Partners, a company focused on urban development in Latino communities^[20].

In September 2007, De La Hoya's company Golden Boy Enterprises acquired The Ring Magazine, KO Magazine, World Boxing Magazine and Pro Wrestling Illustrated from Kappa Publishing Group.

In late 2007, photographs featuring De La Hoya cross-dressed in company of a woman not his wife were posted on a tabloid website and received extensive publicity across the internet. De la Hoya has denied the authenticity of the photos. His lawyer stated, "The photographs depicting Mr. De La Hoya's image that were posted online today by an obscure paparazzi Web site are fake. Many of the Web site's viewers (as reflected in postings on the site) identified the photos as 'a really bad photoshop job.' Unfortunately, with today's technology, anyone can make any photo seem like something other than it is."^[21] In September 2007, Mila Dravnel, the woman who sold the photographs, recanted her allegations against De La Hoya and denied the authenticity of the photographs.^[22] However, in May 2008, Dravnel sued De La Hoya for slander, but she dropped the lawsuit after experts determined the photographs had been digitally doctored.^[23]

On May 1, 2007, the Staples Center sports arena announced that a seven-foot-tall bronze statue of Oscar De La Hoya will join similar tributes to Los Angeles sports stars Magic Johnson and Wayne Gretzky at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.^[24]

In February 2008, Golden Boy acquired a 25% stake of Major League Soccer side Houston Dynamo, along with Brener International Group. [1]

De La Hoya started a charitable foundation to help underprivileged youth to education. In 2008, he donated $3.5 million to the De La Hoya Animo Charter High School.^[25]

In June, 2008, De La Hoya published his autobiography entitled "American Son".^[26]

Oscar De La Hoya is not the uncle of Daisy De La Hoya who claimed that relation on VH1's Rock of Love 2 with Bret Michaels, as De La Hoya later denied the relation.

Oscar De La Hoya is on the front covers of the PS3, Xbox 360, and PSP versions of EASports' Fight Night Round 3.

Oscar De La Hoya is scheduled to fight Manny Pacquiao On Dec. 6, 2008. This will be De La Hoya's last fight.

See also

• List of Olympic medalists in boxing
• List of lightweight boxing champions

• List of WBC world champions
• List of boxing triple champions
• List of boxing quadruple champions
• List of boxing quintuple champions
• List of boxing sextuple champions
• Ring Magazine pound for pound
• Millie Corretjer
• Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Oscar De La Hoya

• • Official Site, Golden Boy Promotions
  • News on Oscar De La Hoya and the world of boxing
  • Oscar De La Hoya Fight-by-Fight Career Record
  • Professional boxing record for Oscar De La Hoya from Boxrec
  • VIDEO: Inside Oscar De La Hoya's training camp @ FightFan.com
  • Oscar De La Hoya Fan Club
  • Oscar De La Hoya Rings the NASDAQ Closing Bell
• Boxing-Encyclopedia