Oscar De La Hoya (born February 4, 1973) is a retired American professional boxer of Mexican descent. Nicknamed "The Golden Boy," De La Hoya won a gold medal at the Barcelona Olympic Games shortly after graduating from James A. Garfield High School.
De La Hoya was born in East Los Angeles, California, and comes from a boxing family. His grandfather Vicente, father Joel Sr. and brother Joel Jr. were all boxers. De La Hoya was The Ring's
"Fighter of the Year" in 1995 and Ring Magazine's top-rated Pound for
Pound fighter in the world in 1997 & 1998. De La Hoya officially
announced his retirement from the sport at a press conference held in
Los Angeles on April 14, 2009.
De La Hoya has defeated 17 world champions and has won ten world titles in six different weight classes. He has also generated more money than any other boxer in the history of the sport, an estimated $696 million pay-per-view income.
De La Hoya founded 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 the few
boxers to take on promotional responsibilities while still active.
Professional career
Super-featherweight
On November 23, 1992, De La Hoya made his professional debut by scoring a first round TKO victory. In his twelfth professional fight, he won his first world title at age 20, stopping Jimmy Bredahl (16–0) in the tenth round to win the WBO Super Featherweight title. He defended the title once, stopping Giorgio Campanella (20–0) in three rounds.Lightweight
On July 29, 1994, he knocked out Jorge Páez (53–6–4) in the second round to win the vacant WBO Lightweight title. In his first title defense, he defeated John-John Molina (36–3), who had recently vacated his IBF Super Featherweight title, by unanimous decision.De La Hoya vs Trinidad unification
Main article: Oscar De La Hoya vs. Félix Trinidad
After seven defenses of his Lineal/WBC welterweight titles, De La Hoya fought rival and IBF Champion Félix Trinidad (35–0) on September 18, 1999, in one of the biggest pay-per-view events in history, setting a record for a non-heavyweight
fight. Oscar dominated the vast majority of the first nine rounds,
battering Trinidad's face with blistering combinations. But in the last
2-3 rounds, heeding the strict instructions of his corner who felt that
De La Hoya was way ahead on the scorecards, De La Hoya shut down his
offense and evaded trading with Trinidad. De La Hoya virtually gave away
the last couple of rounds. Though landing well over 100 more punches,
Trinidad was ultimately awarded a majority decision. The judges
scorecards came under question after the decision. Fans and boxing
analysts called for a rematch, which never happened.De La Hoya vs Mosley
On February 26, 2000, De La Hoya knocked out Derrell Coley (34–1–2) in a WBC eliminator. The WBC awarded De La Hoya their welterweight title, which he lost, to Shane Mosley (34–0) by a split decision on 17 June 2000, giving De La Hoya the first sound defeat of his pro career. The fight was a disputed decision, with one judge scoring the fight 115–113 for De La Hoya, and the other two scoring it 116–112 and 115–113 for Mosley.De La Hoya took promoter Bob Arum to court in the fall of 2000, trying to break his contract with the promoter. The courts ruled in favor of the Golden Boy in February 2001. Tempers flared during the battle and reached a low in March 2001, when De La Hoya called Arum racist in a newspaper interview and then apologized for the remarks.
“I don't have blue eyes and I am not white, but a Mexican arriving on the cusp of fame, and that is what they do not support,” De La Hoya told La Opinion in 2001. “Bob Arum's people hope I lose because they can't see a Mexican above them, and also that he defeated one of the biggest Jews to come out of Harvard.”[16]
De La Hoya defeated Arturo Gatti (33–4) by fifth round TKO on March 24, 2001.
Light-middleweight
He then moved up to light-middleweight, challenging the Spanish Lineal/WBC champion Javier Castillejo. De La Hoya dominated the fight, winning almost every round and knocking Castillejo (51–4) down with ten seconds to go to win the title by a unanimous decision.Rivalry with Fernando Vargas
De La Hoya did not fight for the 15 months and in this time the rivalry between him and WBA champion "Ferocious" Fernando Vargas (22–1) grew. They knew each other as amateurs and it is said the rivalry began when Vargas was angered by De La Hoya laughing at him after he fell into a snowbank. De La Hoya said he would never fight him. Eventually, however, De La Hoya accepted a match. The fight was 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 on the Las Vegas Strip. The fight was even for the first six rounds, with Vargas landing punches on 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. In the next round, De La Hoya knocked Vargas down with a left hook and stopped him moments later. The win is widely considered to be the biggest of De La Hoya's career. Vargas tested positive for stanozolol after the fight.
Hopkins vs De La Hoya
De La Hoya fought Bernard Hopkins (44–2–1) in a unification match on September 18, 2004 in Las Vegas. Hopkins held the WBC, WBA, and IBF middleweight titles, was recognized as Lineal and The Ring champion, and was considered by many to be the number one pound for pound fighter in the world. Although the fight was at a catchweight of 158 pounds (72 kg), many thought De La Hoya was too small for the weight class and Hopkins was considered a heavy favorite.Several days before the fight, De la Hoya's hand was cut when his hand wraps were being cut off after training. The cut required eleven stitches.
De La Hoya fought a tactical fight. After eight rounds, De La Hoya was ahead 77–75 on one scorecard. He was behind 78–74 and 79–73 on the other two scorecards. In the ninth round, Hopkins knocked out De La Hoya with a left hook to the body. It was the first time in De La Hoya's career that he was knocked out.
De la Hoya later said he couldn't get up because the pain of a well placed livershot is unbearable. Despite losing, De La Hoya made over $30 million from the fight.
Bob Arum claimed De La Hoya took a dive. It may not have mattered as it appeared Hopkins was going to win this bout one way or another. Like Mosley, Hopkins would get a job with Golden Boy Promotions.
De La Hoya responded, "So now he's going to attack me left and right. He's going to keep saying that I took a dive against Hopkins and that I'm in this only for the money. I can't stop him from saying those things. I think he's hurt. He's hurt because I chose not to stay with him until the end of my career.
Comeback
De La Hoya vs Mayweather
Main article: De La Hoya-Mayweather
In early 2007, De La Hoya signed to defend his title against WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (37–0–0). De La Hoya was a two to one underdog in the fight.The fight took place on May 5, 2007. De La Hoya pressed throughout all the rounds, doing his best when he used his left jab. Mayweather controlled the later rounds and was ultimately rewarded with a split decision victory in front of a sold-out arena at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Chuck Giampi saw the fight 116–112 for Mayweather, while Jerry Roth also scored it for Mayweather at 115–113. Tom Kaczmarcek ruled for De La Hoya 115–113. The Associated Press had Mayweather winning 116–112.
Although Oscar was the obvious aggressor, chasing Mayweather and throwing many combinations, Mayweather dominated the stats, according to Compubox, connecting on 207 of his 481 total punches thrown. De La Hoya threw more punches—587—but landed only 122.
On May 3, 2008, at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, De La Hoya fought Steve Forbes (33–5) in a tuneup for a possible rematch with Mayweather. De La Hoya showed a more relaxed style, throwing a constant jab and always staying on his toes. He opened a cut near Forbes' eye in the sixth round.
On June 6, 2008, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. announced his retirement from boxing, effectively ending talk of a rematch.
De La Hoya vs Pacquiao
Main article: The Dream Match
De La Hoya faced Manny Pacquiao (47–3–2) on December 6, 2008 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank, Inc., the bout was a twelve round non-title fight at the 147-pound (67 kg) welterweight limit. Although Manny Pacquiao
went into the fight recognized as the leading pound for pound boxer in
the world, some pundits speculated that 147 pounds could have been too
far above his natural weight against the larger De La Hoya. However, Pacquiao's trainer Roach was confident of a victory as he stated that De La Hoya could no longer "pull the trigger" at that stage of his career.
De La Hoya, who was favored to win the bout due to his size advantage,
was expected to be the heavier of the two on fight night. However,
though Pacquiao weighed 142 pounds (64 kg) and De La Hoya 145 pounds
(66 kg) at the official weigh-in on Friday, De La Hoya entered the ring at 147 pounds to Pacquiao's 148.5 pounds (67.4 kg).
