Oscar De La Hoya is an American boxer who is known by his nickname “The Golden Boy“. He was nicknamed “The Golden Boy” because shortly after graduating from high School, De La Hoya won a gold medal at the Barcelona Olympic Games. Winning a gold medal in the Barcelona Olympic Games was also said to be De La Hoya’s mother dying wish.
He was born on February 4th of 1973 in California, United States but he is of Mexican decent. He also came from a family of boxers. His grandfather, father, and as well as his brother were all playing in the same sport – boxing.
Oscar De La Hoya was considered as the “Fighter of the Year” in year 1995 by The Ring Magazine. In 1997 and 1998, De La Hoya was named as the Top Rated Pound-for-Pound Boxer by The Ring Magazine.
He had defeated 17 World Champions in Boxing and has won 10 World titles in 6 various weight divisions. These weight divisions include Super Featherweight, Lightweight, Light Welterweight, Welterweight, Light Middleweight, and Middleweight.
He was said to be the only boxer to have generated more money than other boxers in the history of boxing. An estimated pay-per-view income of $696 million was earned by Oscar De La Hoya during his reign.
He also founded the Golden Boy Promotions which is a promotional combat sport firm. He was also the first American that is of Mexican decent to own a promotional boxing firm in United States.
It is without a doubt that De La Hoya was considered as one of the modern super stars in boxing. De La Hoya has the appeal, the looks, and most of all the skills to stay as the front liner in boxing.
The Golden Boy’s Boxing career was undeniably considered as one of the finest one in the history of boxing. He beat boxing legends such as Pernell Whitaker, Héctor Camacho, and Julio César Chávez. He likewise faced the undefeated International Boxing Federation Champ Felix Trinidad. De La Hoya showed an excellent performance however the judges in the fight still regarded Trinidad as the winner of the match. Boxing fans were disappointed with the decision of the judges and demanded a rematch. However, the rematch never happened.
Following his match with Trinidad from which he was robbed; De La Hoya fought and won from Fernando Vargas and Arturo Gatti – who were later on had positive results for steroids.
In the Middleweight division, De La Hoya went was defeated by Shane Mosley, Floyd Mayweather, and Bernard Hopkins. His final fight was with Manny Pacquiao, from which he lost again. He had an embarrassing loss to Pacquaio from which most boxing critics assumed that he should have beat up Pacquiao instead because Pacquiao was smaller than him. But De la Hoya lost to Pacquiao’s speed and tough punches. And after his embarrassing lost to his last bout, De La Hoya confirmed to the public that he is retiring from the sport.
Nonetheless, even if Oscar De La Hoya retired from his Boxing Career, he has still become a larger part of the Boxing industry through his promotional company.
