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Oscar De La Hoya Profile |
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Birth Date: February 4, 1973
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Birth Place: Montebello, California, USA
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Birth Name: Oscar De La Hoya
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Height: 5'11"
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Biography |
Oscar de la Hoya — nicknamed the
Golden Boy — is a Mexican American boxer who won a gold
medal for the United States Boxing Team at the Barcelona
Olympic Games and considered one of boxing's all time
greats. Oscar de la Hoya became Ring Magazine's "fighter of
the year" in 1995 and Ring Magazine's best "Pound for Pound"
fighter in the world in 1997. His fights throughout his
entire career have generated a total of almost half a
billion dollars in sales alone. He is also the only fighter
in the history of boxing to win world titles in six weight
classes
During his amateur career, de la Hoya's record was 223-5
with 163 knockouts. He was the United States' top Olympic
boxing hope when his mother was diagnosed with breast
cancer. She died at age 35. On her death bed, he promised
her that he would win an Olympic gold medal.
De la Hoya was raised as the son of Mexican immigrants in
impoverished circumstances in East Los Angeles, California.
At the age of eight he was the youngest fighter to win first
place in Freewill games. He never lost a fight for 4 years,
5 months until he met Marco Rudolf who was the best fighter
from Germany at the time. He avenged the loss in the
Olympics by winning the gold medal. He had an impressive
record in the amateurs with 223 wins, 5 losses and an
impressive 163 knockouts, a record matched by only a handful
of other boxers in history.
On November 23, 1992, de la Hoya made his pro debut. He went
on to win titles in 4 different weight divisions and beat
former and current world champions Troy Dorsey (KO 1), Jorge
Paez, (KO 2), Genaro Hernandez (TKO 6), John John Molina (W
12), Rafael Ruelas (TKO 2), Julio César Chávez (TKO 4, KO
8), Miguel Angel Gonzalez (W 12), Jesse James Leija (KO 2),
Pernell Whitaker (W 12)|(A fight which many onlookers
thought he had lost), Hector "Macho" Camacho (W 12), Ike
Quartey (W 12), Arturo Gatti (KO 5), Javier Castillejo (W
12), and Fernando Vargas (KO 11). His losses include a
controversial majority-decision loss to Félix Trinidad and
two decision losses to Shane Mosley. He has been stopped
once in his career by the larger and more technical Bernard
Hopkins (KO 9).
On September 14, 2002, de la Hoya fought his nemesis
"Ferocious" Fernando Vargas. After fiercely competitive
early rounds, de la Hoya seized control of the latter half
of the fight. In round 11, de la Hoya dropped Vargas with a
left hook. Vargas got up at the count of nine, but de la
Hoya finished him with a barrage of punches forcing the
referee to stop the fight at 1:48 of round 11 (TKO 11). It
was later revealed that Vargas had tested positive for
steroids in his post-fight drug test.
On May 3, 2003, as part of the Cinco de Mayo festivities, he
retained his WBC and WBA world junior middleweight
championships when the corner of former world champion Yori
Boy Campas threw in the towel, and officially gave de la
Hoya a seventh round knockout win. On September 13, he and
former rival Mosley met once again, in Las Vegas, and Mosley
once again took away de la Hoya's world title belts.
De la Hoya next challenged Felix Sturm for the WBO world
middleweight title on June 5, 2004. He was awarded a
unanimous decision, to become the first boxer in history to
win world titles in 6 different weight divisions.
After that, he hoped to unify that title with the three
other world middleweight championships, held by Bernard
Hopkins, on September 18. He lost to Hopkins by a ninth
round knockout. A left hand to the body sent him to the
canvas, knocking de la Hoya out for the first time in his
career. Hopkins would later join de la Hoya's Golden Boy
Promotions, a boxing promotion firm.
De la Hoya faced WBC world junior middleweight Ricardo
Mayorga on May 6, 2006 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las
Vegas, Nevada. Many have thought it would be a close fight
because de la Hoya was coming off a long layoff. However, he
fought much better than expected and won the bout by a TKO
in round 6.
De la Hoya did not fight again in 2006, but scheduled a May
5, 2007 bout with Floyd Mayweather, who is the unified
welterweight champion and pound-for-pound number one in the
world. The fight is scheduled to take place at the MGM Grand
Garden Arena, and on the line will be de la Hoya's WBC
Junior Middleweight title. Early Las Vegas odds have Oscar
as a 2-to-1 underdog to the younger Mayweather. It has been
reported that Oscar will earn at least $25 million for the
fight, and Floyd will earn at least $10 million.
De la Hoya is one of the favorite boxers of American cable
channel HBO, where he formerly produced a popular
Spanish-language boxing show called Boxeo de Oro. De la
Hoya's interests outside the ring include architecture,
acting, fashion designing, and singing. He designed his own
house in Big Bear Lake, California, has one clothing line
through Mervyn's department stores), and released a
Grammy-nominated CD, entitled Oscar de la Hoya. Released
through EMI International on October 10, 2000, the
self-titled CD is a Latin Pop album with thirteen tracks in
both English and Spanish.
He married Puerto Rican singing superstar Millie Corretjer
on October 5, 2001, and lives in Los Angeles and Puerto
Rico. Their first child, Oscar Gabriel, was born on December
29, 2005, in Puerto Rico. De la Hoya has three other
children: Jacob (b. February 18, 1998) by a woman whose
identity is unknown; Devon de la Hoya (b. November 30, 1998)
by former Las Vegas show girl Angelicque Mcqueen, and Atiana
Cecilia (b. March 29, 1999) by actress Shanna Moakler.
A Santa Barbara woman brought civil charges against De La
Hoya for allegedly raping her at his condo in Cabo San
Lucas, Mexico, in 1996 when she was 15. De La Hoya denies
the rape but says he settled with the woman "for a very low
amount of money."
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.
In April 2005, de la Hoya and a Southern California real
estate developer, Highridge Partners, formed a real estate
investment partnership, named Golden Boy Partners, to invest
in Latino neighborhoods.
In September 2005, de la Hoya's wallet was stolen by a
pickpocket. The wallet contained a $1 food stamp coupon, a
reminder of his poverty-stricken childhood in east Los
Angeles which was very important to him. |
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Other Information |
Has won world titles at the 130, 135, 140, 147 and 154
pounds weight classes.
Was the only USA boxer to win a gold medal at the 1992
Olympics.
Father, Joel, Sr., fought as a lightweight in Mexico.
Named one of People's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World
(1997).
Ranked #37 in Forbes Power List (2000).
Record: 223-5 (amateur); 37-4-0 (pro; as of 18 September
2004)
Album "Oscar De La Hoya" nominated for a Grammy. [2001]
Married Millie Corretjer in a secret ceremony held at "El
Invernino" in San Juan, Puerto Rico, attended by close
family and friends. To ensure privacy, the couple was
covered by a large sheet, according to a local newspaper.
Corretjer's wedding ring reportedly weighs 9 karats and cost
nearly $1 million dollars. [5 October 2001]
Father of Atiana De La Hoya with Shanna Moakler.
Ceremony held at City Hall by Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn
declaring 2 October Oscar De La Hoya Day. [2 October 2002]
On 29 June 2003, his son Devon and Devon's mother were
reported missing, their car found parked at a Riverside,
California shopping center. The two were found safe five
days later.
Donated $1 million for a new charter school in Boyle
Heights, California to be named the Oscar De La Hoya Animo
Charter High School. It is scheduled to open in August,
2003.
Had three children with three different women in less than
14 months in 1998-1999: Jacob (b. February 18, 1998), Devon
(b. November 30, 1998) and 'Atiana de la Hoya' (b. March 29,
1999).
Son, Oscar Gabriel De La Hoya, was born on December 29, 2005
at 9lb 7oz. |
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