Oscar de la Hoya

At 51 years old, Oscar de la Hoya has this physical status:

Oscar De La Hoya (born February 4, 1973) is a Mexican-American retired boxer who also served as a boxing promoter and, in 2018, a mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter.

He competed from 1992 to 2008, winning multiple world championships in six weight classes, including the lineal championship in three weight classes.

By BoxRec, he is ranked as the 11th best boxer of all time, pound for pound.

As he represented the United States at the 1992 Summer Olympics, De La Hoya was dubbed "The Golden Boy of boxing" by the media, winning a gold medal in the lightweight division right after graduating from James A. Garfield High School and reportedly "set a sport back on its feet," according to reports. "De La Hoya was named the Best Fighter of the Year in 1995 and 1998, and the world's top-ranked combater."

De La Hoya earned over $700 million in pay-per-view income before being overshadowed by Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.

In 2009, he announced his retirement as a fighter after 16 years of service. De La Hoya founded Golden Boy Promotions, a combat sport promotion company that also has a 5 percent interest in the Houston Dynamo in 2002.

Dynamo supporters have reacted angrily to the team's poor results, which has been directly attributed to a lack of funding.

He is the first American of Mexican descent to own a national boxing promotional company, and one of the few boxers to take on promotional duties while still in business.

He began promoting MMA matches in 2018, beginning with a 2018 trilogy match between long-time rivals Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz, who lost their citizenship in Los Angeles.

Early life

His parents immigrated from Mexico to the United States prior to his birth. He was born in East Los Angeles, California, into a boxing family; Vicente's grandfather, Vicente, was an amateur fighter during the 1940s; Joel Sr., a retired boxer, was born in East Los Angeles, California; and his uncle, Billy Sr., was a professional boxer in the 1960s. Joel Jr., his brother, was also a boxer. In 1991, De La Hoya graduated from Garfield High School in East Los Angeles, California.

Personal life

Shanna Moakler, the original Miss USA 1995 champion, and another in October 1997, began dating actress and Miss USA 1995 champion Shanna Moakler. In October 1998, Moakler and De La Hoya announced their engagement. The following year, she gave birth to their daughter. "It wasn't planned pregnancy," Moakler said, "it was understood if it was beautiful, but if it didn't, it wasn't fine too." When Moakler, who was at home watching the Latin Grammy Awards on television, saw De La Hoya escorting another woman to the show in September 2000, the friendship came to an end. In December 2000, Moakler filed a $62.5 million palimony lawsuit against her ex-fiancé, alleging that he was an alcoholic, violent to her and their children, and that he used them "as props to advertise his public image." In 2001, the case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. He had no contact with his daughter after she was separated from Moakler, but he continued to provide financial assistance.

Millie Cortjer married De La Hoya on October 5, 2001. They have three children together. He also has two sons from previous marriages. In 2016, De La Hoya and Cortjer were divorced.

The Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles granted De La Hoya Mexican citizenship on December 12, 2002. "I've always felt that my blood is Mexican," De La Hoya said.

De La Hoya revealed that he was assaulted by a woman when he was 13 years old on September 3, 2021. He did not reveal the woman's name but said she was over 35 years old.

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Amateur career

De La Hoya was the national junior Olympics 119-pound champion at age 15, after losing a tournament in Whittier to Leon Hernandez of Santa Monica, he captured the 125-pound title the following year. He had 234 victories in his amateur career — 163 by knockout — and six losses. Two of those six losses were to Shane Mosley. He took the National Golden Gloves crown in 1989 in the bantamweight division. He won the U.S. National Championship at featherweight in 1990 and was the youngest American boxer at that year's Goodwill Games, winning a gold medal. The pride of victory was tempered by the news that Cecilia Gonzales De La Hoya (November 22, 1950 – October 28, 1990) was terminally ill with breast cancer. She died in October that year, expressing the apprehension that her son would one day be a Olympic gold medalist.

De La Hoya converted his mother's obsession with his preparations as the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona approached. De La Hoya defeated German boxer Marco Rudolph to win the gold medal after a thrilling victory in the first round over Mexican boxer Julio Gonzalez. Rudolph had been the only fighter to beat him in the years leading up to the fight, adding to the drama. The public in the United States promoted his attempt to fulfill his mother's dying wish and dubbed him "The Golden Boy" after he has been with him throughout his career. The Cecilia Gonzalez De La Hoya Cancer Center was officially opened by De La Hoya and his siblings at the White Memorial Medical Center (WMMC) in 2000 in honor of their mother.

In 2008, the United States Olympic Hall of Fame was inducted.

Professional career

De La Hoya made his professional debut on November 23, 1992 by scoring a first-round TKO victory.

On December 9, 1993, televised by ESPN's "Thursday Night Fights" in New York City, De La Hoya had a chance to face Jes Vidal Concepción in a ten-round junior lightweight bout, but he had to cancel due to a wrist injury. Any of those people found the injury worrying, and many believed that Oscar was being overdramatic. When breaking the heavy bag a week earlier, Oscar said he aggravated an old ligament injury. De La Hoya will fire his co-managers Mittleman and Nelson over money issues later this month.

He won his first world championship at the age of 20, defeating Jimmy Bredahl (16–0) in the tenth round to win the WBO super featherweight title. He defended the title once more, defeating Giorgio Campanella (20–0) in three rounds.

He defeated Jorge Páez (53–6–4) in the second round of the vacant WBO Lightweight title on July 29, 1994. He defeated John-John Molina (36–3), who had just dropped his IBF Super Featherweight title by unanimous vote, in his first title defense.

De La Hoya defeated IBF lightweight champion Rafael Ruelas (43–1–0) in a unification bout on May 6, 1995. Ruelas were knocked down twice before the match was suspended in the second round by De La Hoya. De La Hoya was then ordered to defend against Miguel Julio by the IBF.

He redeemed the IBF and defended the WBO against undefeated Genaro Hernández (32–0–1), who forfeited the WBA super-featherweight title to face De La Hoya. Hernandez halted firing after six rounds due to a broken nose. In two rounds at Madison Square Garden, he defeated Jesse James Leija (30–1–2) in his sixth and final defense of the WBO lightweight title.

Oscar De La Hoya defeated Julio César Chávez (96–1–1) of Mexico on June 7, 1996, winning the lineal and WBC light welterweight championship. De La Hoya, a record of 21–0 with 19 K.Os, defeated Chavez by a fourth-round TKO. Chavez's left eye sustained multiple minor cuts during the match, so the fight was called off due to numerous bad cuts. Chávez said that De La Hoya did not beat him before their match in 1998. Miguel ngel González, the undefeated former WBC Lightweight champion and number one light welterweight champion, successfully defends his titles in a twelve-round unanimous verdict.

De La Hoya was ranked in 1997 and defeated Pernell Whitaker (40–1–1) as the welterweight division's champions. The war was an exhausting one. Whitaker sparked De La Hoya with his defence and had more overall shots than De La Hoya, but De La Hoya's power punches and violence compelled the judges to vote in his favour. De La Hoya triumphed unanimously to win the lineal and WBC championships. He was also ranked number one on the Ring Magazine as the top pound-for-pound fighter.

By a unanimous vote on September 13, 1997, De La Hoya defeated Héctor Camacho (63–3–1) 63–3–1).

De La Hoya defeated Julio César Chávez (100–2–2) in a rematch on September 18, 1998, defeating him by eighth-round TKO. He faced undefeated former WBA Welterweight Champion Ike Quartey (43-01) in his next bout and was crowned by a tense split decision. De La Hoya was knocked down once in the match, and Quartey was defeated twice. By the eleventh-round TKO, he defeated Oba Carr (48–2–1) by 48–2–1.

De La Hoya defeated rival and IBF Champion Félix Trinidad (35–0) on September 18, 1999 in one of the biggest pay-per-view tournaments in history, setting a record for a non-heavyweight match in history. Although De La Hoya remained within Trinidad's range and hit the ground running with his stiff jab and blitzing combinations, his side, who felt that De La Hoya was way ahead on the scorecards, lost a large chunk of his offense and evaded trading with Trinidad in the last two rounds of the game. The last couple of rounds of De La Hoya were essentially given away. Trinidad was eventually granted a majority decision despite punching over 100 more punches. Following the decision, the judges' scorecards were put into question. A rematch was called by fans and boxing experts, but it never happened.

In a WBC eliminator, De La Hoya defeated Derrell Coley (36-31–2) on February 26, 2000. After Trinidad vacated the country, De La Hoya lost to Shane Mosley (34–0) by a split decision on June 17, 2000, the WBC awarded the welterweight title to De La Hoya. One judge scored De La Hoya 115-113, while the other two scored it 116–112 and 115–113 for Mosley.

In 2000, De La Hoya won a lawsuit against Bob Arum to end his employment with the promoter. In February 2001, the courts ruled in favour of De La Hoya."

By a fifth-round TKO on March 24, 2001, De La Hoya defeated Arturo Gatti (33–4).

He then progressed to light middleweight, vying for the lineal and WBC champion Javier Castillejo. De La Hoya dominated the tournament, winning virtually every round and knocking Castillejo (51–4) down by ten seconds to win the title by a unanimous vote.

On October 8, 2001, it was announced that De La Hoya would return to the Grand Olympic Auditorium, where he won his first title to defend his WBC light middleweight championship against WBC No. 1 challenger Roman Karmazin. De La Hoya has been forced to postpone his title defense after suffering from a fractured cartilage in his left wrist. He was due to return on May 4 — a date he had already reserved before his injury. It was an old injury that De La Hoya sustained in the first round of his 1999 fight against Oba Carr. "I threw in the fight from a left hook," De La Hoya said, "and the agony hasn't been there ever since." "I would guess it was a five or six on a scale from one to ten." De La Hoya threw a punch that markedly aggravated the wrist ten days ago on his first day of sparring for the Karmazin match. De La Hoya planned to face a major opponent in May --Trinidad, Mosley, Hopkins, or Vargas -- but he says he would still want to do so if he could get WBC permission to postpone his mandatory match. In his losses against Trinidad and Mosley, De La Hoya said the hand was bothered. "It's always bugging me," he said, "but we're warriors, and we have to fight it out." The war seemed to have been cursed from the get-goal. When Karmazin's two trainers, his boss, and his doctor all refused visas, the Russian fighter had to return home to train. Frank Moloney, Karmazin's promoter, went even further, doubting that the fight will take place.

De La Hoya did not fight for the 15 months, but the rivalry between him and WBA champion Fernando Vargas (22–1) swelled. Vargas was known as an amateur, and it's believed the rivalry began when Vargas was enraged by De La Hoya's yelling at him after he fell into a snow bank. De La Hoya said he would never fight him. However, De La Hoya accepted a match later. The fight was scheduled for May 2002, but De La Hoya was forced to cancel due to a hand injury.

On September 14, 2002, the unification contest, dubbed "Bad Blood," took place in Mandalay Bay on the Las Vegas Strip. Vargas hit the ropes in the odd rounds, but De La Hoya beat him in the first six rounds, and Vargas delivered punches on the ropes in the first six rounds. In the seventh round, De La Hoya took over the match, causing Vargas to break Vargas with a left hook in the tenth. De La Hoya knocked Vargas down with a left hook and stopped him moments later in the second round. The win is widely considered to be the most significant of De La Hoya's career. After the war, Vargas tested positive for stanozolol.

With a routine seventh round stoppage, De La Hoya defended his unified victory over Yori Boy Campas (80–5) before a rematch against Shane Mosley (38–2). The match, described as "retaliation" and staged at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, was more of a boxing match than their first match, and although some rounds were close, De La Hoya's game plan employed his jab, leaving Mosley physically exhausted. In Compubox, it was De La Hoya who seemed to be landing the cleaner, more effective punches, and obliterated Mosley, landing over 100 more people. The controversial unanimous decision was given to Mosley by judges, who evidently didn't see it that way. Mosley was later linked to the BALCO Labs steroid scandal. BALCO's lead investigator, Jeff Novitzky, reported that lab reports showed that Mosley received "the clear" and "the cream"—both designer steroids. Prior to his rematch with Oscar De La Hoya, Mosley is said to have started his doping regimen. Mosley would later admit to using BALCO's performance-enhancing products for this match, insisting that they were legal supplements.

On June 5, 2004, De la Hoya defeated Felix Sturm (20–0), the WBO middleweight champion, with the winner also getting a shot at the undisputed world middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins. De La Hoya was voted unanimously, becoming the first boxer to win world championships in six different weight divisions. The contest was decided 115–113 in favor of De La Hoya by all three judges. The decision was much more controversial than his decision victories over Pernell Whitaker or Ike Quartey. Whereas the Whitaker and Quartey fights were considered close contests that might have resulted in a draw or not, a draw was declared by Compubox, who had De La Hoya's defeat to Sturm, with Compubox naming Sturm as landing 234 of 541 punches, while De La Hoya was ranked as landing 188 of 792. Several rumblings had existed within the boxing community long before the fight, that it was decided that De La Hoya would face Hopkins in a mega-dollar battle that would have drawn more money than a Hopkins-Sturm matchup would have drawn more money. Sky Sports' Iain Darke said the decision to set up De La Hoya versus Hopkins was "tailor made." (De La Hoya) received the benefit of a large charity," Darke said. Sturm & his promotional team, Universum Box-Promotion, filed a lawsuit against the Nevada State Athletic Commission over the decision, but it was not to blame, and the decision remained unchanged today.

In a unification match in Las Vegas on September 18, 2004, De La Hoya defeated Bernard Hopkins (42-42). Hopkins, the WBC, WBA, and IBF middleweight titles, was named as lineal and The Ring champion, and many believe he was the world's top pound fighter. Despite the fact that the fight was at a catchweight of 158 pounds (72 kg), many believed De La Hoya was too small for the weight class, and Hopkins was a strong favorite.

Several days before the fight, De La Hoya's hand was cut off before wrapping, requiring eleven stitches to close. It was not an issue going into the fight for He and his corner.

De La Hoya was involved in a tactical conflict. On one scorecard, De La Hoya was ahead 776–74 and 79–73 on the other two rounds, but not 78–74 and 79–73 were on the other two. In the ninth round, Hopkins threw a left hook at De La Hoya's body, causing him to crumble to the ground, where he was counted out. It was the first time in De La Hoya's career that he had been KO'd. De la Hoya later said that he couldn't get up because the agony of a well-placed liver shot was unbearable. Despite losing, De La Hoya made more than $30 million from the fight. Hopkins was later identified as a minor shareholder in Golden Boy and spent time as the company's east coast representative. De La Hoya "quit," Bob Arum said. Hopkins will then be represented by Golden Boy Promotions as he does in Mosley.

De La Hoya suffered for 20 months before deciding to face WBC light middleweight champion Ricardo Mayorga (27–5–1). Mayorga sluggishly attacked everything from De La Hoya's sexuality to his wife and child in the first minute of the war, but De La Hoya knocked Mayorga down in the first minute of the war with a left hook on May 6, 2006. In the sixth round, he knocked him out for his tenth world title.

De La Hoya defended his title against WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (36-30–0). In the war, De La Hoya led to a two-to-one underdog.

The confrontation took place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 5, 2007. De La Hoya pressed on throughout, doing his best when using his left jab. Mayweather oversaw the later rounds and was awarded a split decision by judge Chuck Giampi, who scored the bout 116-113 for Mayweather, Jerry Roth 115–113 for Mayweather, and De La Hoya's Tom Kaczmarcek 115–113 for De La Hoya. Mayweather, 116–112 for the Associated Press, had it.

Mayweather landed at a higher rate than many others en route to throwing over 100 more punches, but De La Hoya hit 122 of 587.

In a tune-up for a potential match with Mayweather, De La Hoya defeated Steve Forbes (33-55) at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, on May 3, 2008. De La Hoya's style was more relaxed, with a constant jab and always keeping his toes. In the sixth round, he opened a cut near Forbes' eye and advanced to victory by unanimous vote in 12.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. announced his first of many others from boxing on June 6, 2008, effectively ending talk of a match.

On December 6, 2008 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, De La Hoya defeated Manny Pacquiao (473-32). The bout was a twelve-round, non-title match between Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank, Inc., at the 147-pound (67 kg) welterweight maximum. Although Pacquiao entered the fight as the world's top pound boxer, several analysts speculated that 147 pounds may have been too heavy against the larger De La Hoya. Pacquiao's manager, Freddie Roach, was confident of a triumph, but admitted that De La Hoya could no longer "pull the trigger" at that point in his career. On fight night, De La Hoya, who was favored to win the competition due to his size advantage, was expected to be the heavier of the two teams. Despite Pacquiao's 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 (67.4 kg) to Pacquiao's 148.5 pounds (67.4 kg).

After the eighth round, De La Hoya received a beating and his corner was stopped the fight. Before the fight, Pacquiao was ahead on all three judges' scorecards, with two judges scoring the fight 80–71 and the other judge scoring it at 79–72. "We knew we had him after the first round," Pacquiao's coach Freddie Roach said after the match. He had no legs, was afraid, and he was fired." After the match was stopped, De La Hoya crossed the ring to Pacquiao's corner, confirming Roach's pre-fight claims that he's aged too old. "You're right, Freddie." "I don't have it anymore." De La Hoya answered when asked by reporters if he'd stay fighting, "My heart still wants to fight, that's for sure." De La Hoya said. "But what if your physical body doesn't respond?" says the doctor. "I have to be patient and make sure I think about my future plans."

On April 14, 2009, De La Hoya announced his resignation, putting an end to rumors of a match with Julio César Chávez Jr., the son of the late champion and Mexican artist Julio César Chávez, Sr., in the aftermath of the television show Shaq Vs.

De La Hoya told DAZN that he was "90 percent positive" that he will return to the first quarter of next year and that he was keen to face Gennady Golovkin in a brawl. De La Hoya would return to action in an exhibition bout against Vitor Belfort on September 11, 2021, under the Triller (app) Fight Club banner, on June 17, 2021. The match would not be an exhibition, but rather be a sanctioned boxing match sanctioned by the California State Athletic Commission, as it was announced on July 21. De La Hoya declared on September 3 that he would not be fighting Belfort due to contracting COVID-19. He said he was completely vaccinated and receiving hospitalization in a letter to his followers.

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