Oscar De La Hoya

Oscar De La Hoya is a Mexican-American boxing promoter and former professional boxer whose career ran from 1992 to 2008. He captured 11 world titles across six weight classes, with lineal championships in three of them. The media dubbed him "The Golden Boy of Boxing" after he won a lightweight gold medal for the United States at the 1992 Summer Olympics, shortly after graduating from James A. Garfield High School. Considered one of the sport’s all-time greats, BoxRec ranks him as the 16th best boxer ever. He generated roughly $700 million in pay-per-view revenue, making him the top earner in that category until Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao surpassed him. De La Hoya was named The Ring magazine’s Fighter of the Year in 1995 and was the publication’s pound-for-pound number one in 1997 and 1998. He retired from fighting in 2009 after a 16-year professional run.

In 2002, he founded Golden Boy Promotions, a combat sports promotional company that also holds a 25% stake in the Houston Dynamo. He became the first American of Mexican descent to own a national boxing promotional firm and one of the few active boxers to take on promotional duties. In 2018, he expanded into MMA promotion, starting with a trilogy bout between longtime rivals Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz; the inaugural Golden Boy MMA event took place on November 24, 2018. De La Hoya has held dual American and Mexican citizenship since 2002, when the Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles granted him Mexican citizenship in recognition of his heritage.

Born in East Los Angeles, California, he came from a boxing family: his grandfather, Vicente, was an amateur fighter in the 1940s, and his father, Joel Sr., boxed professionally in the 1960s. His brother, Joel Jr., also fought. De La Hoya graduated from Garfield High School in East Los Angeles in 1991.

As an amateur, he won the national Junior Olympics 119-pound title at age 15. After losing a tournament in Whittier to Leon Hernandez from Santa Monica, he captured the 125-pound title the following year. His amateur record included 234 wins—163 by knockout—with two losses to Shane Mosley. In 1989, he took the National Golden Gloves bantamweight title. At 17 in 1990, he won the U.S. National Championship at featherweight and became the youngest U.S. boxer at that year’s Goodwill Games, earning a gold medal. The victory was bittersweet: his mother, Cecilia Gonzales De La Hoya (November 22, 1950 – October 28, 1990), was terminally ill with breast cancer and died that October, expressing her hope that he would one day become an Olympic gold medalist.

As the 1992 Barcelona Olympics approached, De La Hoya channeled his mother’s dream into his training. After an upset first-round win over Cuban boxer Julio Gonzalez, he defeated German Marco Rudolph—the only fighter to beat him in the years leading up to the bout—to win the gold medal. The U.S. media highlighted his quest to fulfill his mother’s dying wish and gave him the nickname "The Golden Boy," which has stuck. In 2000, De La Hoya and his siblings opened the Cecilia Gonzalez De La Hoya Cancer Center at White Memorial Medical Center (WMMC), funded by a $350,000 donation from him.

He was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame in 2008. His amateur record is listed as 223–5 (unofficial).

De La Hoya made his professional debut on November 23, 1992, knocking out Lamar Williams in the first round at 1 minute 42 seconds. He was scheduled to fight Jesús Vidal Concepción in a ten-round junior lightweight bout on December 9, 1993, at the Paramount Theatre in New York City, but withdrew due to a wrist injury. Some viewed the injury as suspicious, but Oscar said he aggravated an old ligament injury while hitting the heavy bag a week earlier. Later that month, he fired his co-managers Mittleman and Nelson over money issues.

In his twelfth professional fight, at age 20, he won his first world title by stopping Jimmy Bredahl (16–0) in the tenth round for the WBO junior lightweight belt. He defended it once, stopping Giorgio Campanella (20–0) in three rounds. On July 29, 1994, he knocked out Jorge Páez (53–6–4) in the second round to win the vacant WBO Lightweight title. He defended that title twice to close 1994, stopping Carl Griffith and John Avila by technical knockout. In February 1995, he beat John-John Molina (36–3) by unanimous decision. On May 6, 1995, he unified the WBO and IBF lightweight titles by defeating IBF champion Rafael Ruelas (43–1–0), knocking Ruelas down twice before the fight was stopped in the second round. The IBF then ordered him to defend against Miguel Julio, but De La Hoya relinquished the IBF title and defended the WBO belt against undefeated Genaro Hernández (32–0–1), who quit after six rounds due to a broken nose. In his sixth and final WBO lightweight defense, he knocked out Jesse James Leija (30–1–2) in two rounds at Madison Square Garden. He then moved up to light welterweight, where he faced Chávez.