Oscar De La Hoya

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Oscar De La Hoya
File:Oscardelahoya vs pacquiao.jpg
Born	Oscar De La Hoya (1973-02-04) February 4, 1973 (age 51) East Los Angeles, California
Nationality	American
Other names	"The Golden Boy"
Spouse	Millie De la Hoya
Statistics
Weight(s)	Light Middleweight
Height	5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	45
Wins	39
Wins by KO	30
Losses	6
Draws	0
No contests	0

Oscar De La Hoya (born February 4, 1973) — nicknamed "The Golden Boy" — is an 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. De La Hoya was 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 17 world champions and has won 10 world titles in six different weight classes.^[1][2] He has also generated more money than any other boxer in the history of the sport.^[3]

De La Hoya's amateur career included 223 wins, 163 by knockout, with only 6 losses. He won the United States' only boxing gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics, a win which he dedicated to his deceased mother.^[4] 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.^[5]

On June 7, 1996, Oscar de la Hoya fought Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez for the WBC Light Welterweight championship. De la Hoya, the underdog with a record of 21-0 with 20 KO's, beat Chavez by TKO (Referee Stoppage) after the 3rd round. A rematch took place two years later, seeing the aging Chavez once again stopped in the eighth.

On March 12, 1997, De La Hoya fought the man regarded as the best pound for pound fighter in the world, Pernell Whitaker and by winning a 12 round decision, became regarded as the best pound for pound fighter in the world and the WBC welterweight champion.

De La Hoya, then the WBC welterweight champion, fought rival and IBF champion Felix Trinidad on September 18, 1999, in one of the biggest pay-per-view events in history, setting a record for a non-heavyweight fight. Trinidad was ultimately awarded a majority decision. Fans and boxing analysts called for a rematch, which never happened.

De La Hoya fought as a welterweight three more times after the Trinidad fight, including a controversial decision loss to Shane Mosley, and a TKO of Arturo Gatti in round five. 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.

De La Hoya did not fight for the 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 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 in Las Vegas. 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.

De La Hoya defended his unified title against Yori Boy Campas (KO 6), before facing Shane Mosley in a rematch. The fight, billed as "Retribution" and staged at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, was more of a boxing match than their first encounter, and many rounds were close. Nevertheless, Mosley won a close unanimous decision, with all judges scoring the bout 115-113 in his favor, even though Compubox showed that De La Hoya had landed more punches. Mosley would later admit to using performance-enhancing drugs from Balco for this bout, saying he thought they were legal supplements. ^[6]

De la Hoya next challenged Felix Sturm for the WBO world middleweight title on June 5, 2004. Although it was a 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 counted Sturm as landing 234 of 541 punches, while counting De La Hoya as landing 188 of 792. ^[7]

De la Hoya challenged for the WBC, WBA, and IBF middleweight championship and unsuccessfully defended his WBO title against 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 at a catchweight of 158 pounds, many thought De La Hoya was too small for the weight class, and Hopkins was considered a heavy favorite.

Despite 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 losing, De La Hoya made over $30 million from the fight.

De La Hoya took a layoff of 20 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,^[8] but when they fought on May 6, 2006, De La Hoya knocked Mayorga down in the first minute of the fight with a left hook. He knocked him out in the sixth round to take his tenth world title.^[9]

In early 2007, De La Hoya signed to defend his title against WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr., the man considered to be the best fighter in the world. Tickets sold out within three hours. De la Hoya was a two to one favorite in the fight.

The fight took place on May 5, 2007. De La Hoya pressed through out all the rounds, doing his best when he used his lead left jab. De La Hoya rallied in the final round, but Mayweather was awarded the split decision.

On May 3, 2008, at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, De La Hoya fought Steve Forbes 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.^[10] He opened a cut near Forbes' eye in the sixth round.^[11]

On June 6, 2008, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. announced his retirement from boxing, effectively ending talk of a rematch.

De La Hoya was scheduled to face Manny Pacquiao on December 6, 2008 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank, Inc., the bout was a 12-round, non-title fight at the 147-pound 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.^[12] However, Pacquiao's trainer Freddy Roach was confident of a victory as he stated that De La Hoya could no longer "pull the trigger" at that stage in his career.^[13] 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 and De La Hoya 145 at the official weigh-in on Friday,^[14] De La Hoya entered the ring at 147 pounds to Pacquiao's 148.5 .^[15]

De La Hoya lost the fight by way of TKO after 8 rounds in a dominant performance by Manny Pacquiao. Pacquiao was ahead on all three judges' scorecards before the stoppage, with two judges scoring the fight at 80-71 and one scoring it at 79-72.^[16] After the bout trainer Freddy Roach stated, "We knew we had him after the first round. He had no legs, he was hesitant and he was shot."^[17] Confirming Roach's pre-fight predictions that he'd grown too old, De La Hoya crossed the ring to Pacquiao's corner after the bout was stopped and told Roach, "You're right Freddie. I don't have it anymore."^[18] When asked by reporters whether he would continue fighting, De La Hoya responded, "My heart still wants to fight, that's for sure," De La Hoya said. "But when your physical doesn't respond, what can you do? I have to be smart and make sure I think about my future plans."

Olympic medal record
Men's Boxing
	1992 Barcelona	Lightweight

• 1989 Gold Medalist National Golden Gloves
• 1990 Gold Medalist US National Championships
• 1990 Gold Medalist Goodwill Games
• 1991 Gold Medalist US National Championships
• 1991 Gold Medalist US Olympic Festival
• 1992 Gold Medalist World Championships Challenge
• 1992 Gold Medalist Olympic Games^[19]

Amateur record: 224-5

Record to Date
Won 39 (KOs 30)	Lost 6	Drawn 0	Total 45

Date	Opponent	W-L-D	Location	Result
2008-12-06	Manny Pacquiao	47-3-2	MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, United States	L TKO 8
2008-05-03	Steve Forbes	33-5-0	Carson, California, U.S.	W UD 12
2007-05-05	Floyd Mayweather Jr. WBC Super Welterweight Title	37-0-0	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	L SD 12
2006-05-06	Ricardo Mayorga WBC Super Welterweight Title	28-5-1	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W TKO 6
2004-09-18	Bernard Hopkins WBA Middleweight Super Title WBC Middleweight Title IBF Middleweight Title WBO Middleweight Title	44-2-1	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	L KO 9
2004-06-05	Felix Sturm WBO Middleweight Title	20-0-0	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W UD 12
2003-09-13	Shane Mosley WBC Super Welterweight Title WBA Light Middleweight Super Title	38-2-0	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	L UD 12
2003-05-03	Luis Ramon Campas WBC Super Welterweight Title WBA Light Middleweight Super Title	80-5-0	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W TKO 7
2002-09-14	Fernando Vargas WBC Super Welterweight Title WBA Light Middleweight Super Title	22-1-0	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W TKO 11
2001-06-23	Javier Castillejo WBC Super Welterweight Title	51-4-0	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W UD 12
2001-03-24	Arturo Gatti	33-4-0	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W TKO 5
2000-06-17	Shane Mosley WBC Welterweight Title	34-0-0	Los Angeles, California, U.S.	L SD 12
2000-02-26	Derrell Coley	34-1-2	New York, New York, U.S.	W TKO 7
1999-09-18	Felix Trinidad WBC Welterweight Title IBF Welterweight Title	35-0-0	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	L MD 12
1999-05-22	Oba Carr WBC Welterweight Title	48-2-1	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W TKO 11
1999-02-13	Ike Quartey WBC Welterweight Title	34-0-1	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W SD 12
1998-09-18	Julio César Chávez WBC Welterweight Title	101-2-2	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W TKO 8
1998-06-13	Patrick Charpentier WBC Welterweight Title	27-4-1	El Paso, Texas, U.S.	W TKO 3
1997-12-06	Wilfredo Rivera WBC Welterweight Title	27-2-1	Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.	W TKO 8
1997-09-13	Hector Camacho WBC Welterweight Title	64-3-1	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W UD 12
1997-06-14	David Kamau WBC Welterweight Title	28-1-0	San Antonio, Texas, U.S.	W KO 2
1997-04-12	Pernell Whitaker WBC Welterweight Title	40-1-1	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W UD 12
1997-01-18	Miguel Angel Gonzalez WBC Light Welterweight Title	41-0-0	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W UD 12
1996-06-07	Julio César Chávez WBC Light Welterweight Title	97-1-1	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W TKO 4
1996-02-09	Darryl Tyson	47-8-1	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W KO 2
1995-12-15	Jesse James Leija WBO Lightweight Title	30-1-2	New York, New York, U.S.	W TKO 2
1995-09-09	Genaro Hernandez WBO Lightweight Title	32-0-1	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W TKO 6
1995-05-06	Rafael Ruelas IBF Lightweight Title WBO Lightweight Title	43-1-0	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W TKO 2
1995-02-18	Juan Molina WBO Lightweight Title	36-3-0	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W UD 12
1994-12-10	John Avila WBO Lightweight Title	20-1-1	Los Angeles, California, U.S.	W TKO 9
1994-11-18	Carl Griffith WBO Lightweight Title	28-3-2	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W TKO 3
1994-07-29	Jorge Paez Vacant WBO Lightweight Title	53-6-4	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W KO 2
1994-05-27	Giorgio Campanella WBO Super Featherweight Title	21-0-0	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W TKO 3
1994-03-05	Jimmi Bredahl WBO Super Featherweight Title	16-0-0	Los Angeles, California, U.S.	W TKO 10
1993-10-30	Narciso Valenzuela	35-13-2	Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.	W KO 1
1993-08-27	Angelo Nuñez	10-4-3	Beverly Hills, California, U.S.	W TKO 4
1993-08-14	Renaldo Carter	27-4-1	Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, U.S.	W TKO 6
1993-06-07	Troy Dorsey	15-7-4	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W TKO 1
1993-05-08	Frank Avelar	15-3-0	Primm, Nevada, U.S.	W TKO 4
1993-04-06	Mike Grable	13-1-2	Rochester, New York, U.S.	W UD 8
1993-03-13	Jeff Mayweather	23-2-2	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	W TKO 4
1993-02-06	Curtis Strong	14-6-2	San Diego, California, U.S.	W TKO 4
1993-01-03	Paris Alexander	15-6-2	Hollywood, California, U.S.	W TKO 2
1992-12-12	Clifford Hicks	13-6-0	Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.	W KO 1
1992-11-23	Lamar Williams	5-1-1	Inglewood, California, U.S.	W KO 1

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 13 tracks in both English and Spanish written by Diane Warren and the Bee-Gees.De La Hoya also plays in the alternative/punk band, Trapt as a side job next to boxing.^[20]

On October 5, 2001, De La Hoya married Millie Corretjer. They have two children together

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.^[21]

In 2005, Golden Boy Enterprises announced the formation of Golden Boy Partners, a company focused on urban development in Latino communities^[22].

In 2006, De La Hoya authorized a children's picture book titled Super Oscar ^[23] published by Simon and Schuster and released in his name. The book was written by noted children's author Mark Shulman and illustrated by children's illustrator Lisa Kopelke. The book tells the story of young Oscar as a daydreamer, who uses his great physical ability to prepare an elaborate picnic for his entire neighborhood in just fifteen minutes. Written in English and Spanish, the book received unanimously positive reviews from the publishing review journals. Super Oscar was selected as the winner of the 2007 Latino Book Awards Best Bilingual Children’s Picture Book of the year.^[24].

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.^[25]

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."^[26] 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.^[27] 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.^[28]

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.^[29]

In February 2008, Golden Boy acquired a 25% stake of Major League Soccer side Houston Dynamo, along with Brener International Group.^[30]

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.^[31]

In June, 2008, De La Hoya published his autobiography entitled "American Son".^[32]

He is a member of the 2008 United States Olympic Hall of Fame.^[33]

Oscar De La Hoya is on the front covers of the PS3, Xbox 360, and PSP versions of EASports' Fight Night Round 3.^[34]

In 2008, De La Hoya starred in a commercial alongside several Mexican boxing champions for Pronosticos lottery in Mexico. The 300 film inspired commercial featured the Mexican champions battling giants and other large creatures.^[35]

A seven-foot-tall bronze statue of Oscar De La Hoya was unveiled outside Staples Center on Monday December 2, 2008.^[36]

• 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.

• 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
• Boxing record for Oscar De La Hoya from BoxRec (registration required)
• 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

Awards
Preceded by Roy Jones Jr.	Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year 1995	Succeeded by Evander Holyfield
Sporting positions
Preceded by Andreas Zülow	Olympics Boxing Lightweight Gold Medalist August 1992	Succeeded by Hocine Soltani
Preceded by Jimmi Bredahl	WBO Super Featherweight champion March 5, 1994 - 1994 Vacates title	Succeeded by Regilio Tuur
Preceded by Giovanni Parisi Vacated	5th World Lightweight Champion (WBO) July 29, 1994 - 1996 Vacates title	Succeeded by Artur Grigorian
Preceded by Rafael Ruelas	11th World Lightweight Champion (IBF) May 6, 1995 - July, 1995 Stripped of title	Succeeded by Philip Holiday
Preceded by Julio César Chávez	24th World Light Welterweight Champion (WBC) June 7, 1996 - 1997 Vacates title	Succeeded by Kostya Tszyu
Preceded by Pernell Whitaker	25th World Welterweight Champion (WBC) April 12, 1997 - September 18, 1999	Succeeded by Felix Trinidad
Preceded by Felix Trinidad Vacated	WBC Welterweight Champion March 03, 2000– June 17, 2000	Succeeded by Shane Mosley
Preceded by Javier Castillejo	WBC Super Welterweight Champion June 23, 2001 - September 13, 2003
Preceded by Felix Trinidad Vacated	WBA Light Middleweight Super Champion September 14, 2002 - September 13, 2003
Preceded by Felix Sturm	WBO Middleweight Champion June 5, 2004 - September 18, 2004	Succeeded by Bernard Hopkins
Preceded by Ricardo Mayorga	WBC Super Welterweight Champion May 6, 2006 - May 5, 2007	Succeeded by Floyd Mayweather Jr.