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1973-present
Oscar De La Hoya Today: ‘The Golden Boy’ Documentary
Oscar De La Hoya is the subject of a new two-part HBO documentary titled The Golden Boy, airing at 9 p.m. on July 24 and 25 on HBO and streaming on Max. The film delves into the champion boxer’s successful in-ring career, as well as his turbulent personal life.
Who Is Oscar De La Hoya?
De La Hoya, also known as the “Golden Boy,” is one of the most successful and popular boxers in history, winning 10 world titles across six different weight classes during his career. He started boxing at a young age, and won a gold medal at the 1992 Olympics at age 19. De La Hoya generated hundreds of millions of dollars from his pay-per-view fights before his retirement in 2009.
In addition to his fighting ability, De La Hoya is known for his promotional firm Golden Boy Promotions, which he established in 2002. The company has promoted some of the biggest bouts in boxing history.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Oscar De La Hoya
BORN: February 4, 1973
BIRTHPLACE: Montebello, Los Angeles, California
SPOUSE: Millie Corretjer (m. 2001)
CHILDREN: Jacob, Atiana, Devon, Oscar, Nina, Victoria
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Aquarius
Early Life and Career
De La Hoya was born on February 4, 1973, in Montebello, Los Angeles, California. His parents moved to the United States from Mexico before he was born. Boxing was a common thread in De La Hoya’s family. His grandfather was an amateur fighter in the 1940s, and his father, Joel, boxed professionally in the 1960s. De La Hoya began boxing at age 6. His idol was the Olympic gold medalist Sugar Ray Leonard, who became a celebrity after the 1976 Summer Olympics before going professional.
At age 15, De La Hoya won the national Junior Olympic 119-pound title; he took home the 125-pound title the next year. In 1990, he won the national Golden Gloves title in the 125-pound division and was the youngest U.S. boxer at that year’s Goodwill Games, winning a gold medal. The joy of victory was tempered by the news that his mother, Cecilia, was terminally ill with cancer; she died in October 1990, expressing the hope that her son would one day win Olympic gold. One year later, with a victory in the U.S. Amateur Boxing tournament (132 pounds), De La Hoya was named Boxer of the Year by USA Boxing.
However, De La Hoya’s life outside the ring was far more complicated. In August 2021, the boxer told the Los Angeles Times in an interview he was raped at age 13 in Hawaii by a woman who “was over 35” years old. He has also said his mother physically abused him during childhood.
International Boxing Star
With the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, fast approaching, De La Hoya turned his mother’s dream into a strong focus for his training. After an upset victory in the first round over the Cuban boxer Julio Gonzalez, De La Hoya defeated Marco Rudolph of Germany to win gold and become the only U.S. boxer to take home a medal from Barcelona.
De La Hoya turned professional after the 1992 Olympics, winning his first pro fight in a first-round knockout of Lamar Williams in Inglewood, California, on November 23, 1992. He compiled an extremely successful record during his first year as a pro, and on March 5, 1994, won his first professional title, the junior lightweight championship of the World Boxing Organization (WBO), with a technical knockout (TKO) of Danish fighter Jimmi Bredahl in the tenth round of the fight. Four months later, De La Hoya captured the WBO lightweight title as well, knocking out Jorge Paez in the second round.
After a hard-fought victory in February 1995 over John Molina, the International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior lightweight champion, De La Hoya knocked out Rafael Ruelas in less than five minutes to win the IBF lightweight title and bring his overall record to 18-0.
Despite De La Hoya’s status as the “Golden Boy” of boxing, some critics thought he had simply not faced enough quality opponents. A majority of these doubts were erased in June 1996, when De La Hoya faced his biggest challenge to date in Julio Cesar Chavez, an experienced and popular Mexican fighter and the reigning World Boxing Council (WBC) junior welterweight champion. De La Hoya had sparred with Chavez as an amateur and been knocked down, but this time the results were different. De La Hoya pummeled crowd favorite Chavez with blows, opening a cut above the champion’s eye before officials stopped the bout in the fourth round and declared victory for De La Hoya.
In January 1997, De La Hoya successfully defended his junior welterweight title. Moving up to the 147-pound weight class, he won the WBC welterweight title in Las Vegas in April of that year, beating the reigning champion and 1984 Olympic gold medalist Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whittaker, a pro champion in four different weight classes. With that victory, De La Hoya confirmed his reputation as the best fighter, pound-for-pound, in the world.
De La Hoya’s reign as welterweight champion would continue until September 18, 1999, when he faced the hard-hitting Felix Trinidad in one of the most anticipated fights of the decade. As a record-breaking number of fans watched the fight broadcast on pay-per-view television, Trinidad handed De La Hoya his fist loss ever in a 12-round unanimous decision for the WBC welterweight title. A second loss in 2000 to “Sugar” Shane Mosley prompted De La Hoya to take some time off from boxing.
Outside the Ring
De La Hoya’s good looks and undeniable talent made the boxer a hit with fans and the media from the beginning of his career. Outside the ring, he became the best-known boxer in America, earning respect from many for his charity and community service efforts including a nonprofit foundation and a youth boxing center in his old East Los Angeles neighborhood. In 2000, De La Hoya released his first album, in both English and Spanish, on the EMI/Latin label. Entitled Oscar, the album topped Latin dance charts and a single “Ven a Mi,” was nominated for a Grammy Award.
In 2002, De La Hoya founded boxing promotional firm Golden Boy Promotions, a play on his nickname. The brand now represents a number of champion fighters, including World Boxing Organization minimumweight world champion Oscar Collazo and World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association women’s flyweight world champion Marlen Esparza.
Maturing Boxer and Retirement
De La Hoya returned to the ring in March 2001, beating Arturo Gatti in the fifth round of his first fight after his return. On June 23 of that year, De La Hoya defeated Javier Castillejo of Spain, the reigning WBC super welterweight (154 pounds) champion, in 12 rounds to win his fifth title in as many weight classes, matching the achievement of his idol, Sugar Ray Leonard. At the age of 28, he was the youngest boxer ever to have won five world titles.
Everything has not been golden for this boxing phenomenon, though. He lost a middleweight title fight to Bernard Hopkins in 2004. De La Hoya took time away from the ring and focused on other aspects of his life. Already established as a boxing promoter, De La Hoya expanded his business in 2006. He announced a new real estate venture called Golden Boy Partners, which would build retail, commercial, and residential developments in urban Latino communities.
In 2008, De La Hoya lost to Manny Pacquiao in an eight-round knockout. The match launched Pacquiao into superstardom and was seen as a symbolic changing of the guard atop the sport. De La Hoya retired from boxing soon after on April 14, 2009.
Attempted Comeback
De La Hoya announced in March 2021 that, at age 48, he would make his return to the ring. He was eventually scheduled to face UFC champion Vitor Belfort in an exhibition match on September 11. However, De La Hoya was unable to fight after contracting COVID-19, and then-58-year-old Evander Holyfield was named his replacement.
In 2022, De La Hoya admitted he was glad the fight with Belfort never occurred. “I’m glad I didn’t fight this monster of a fighter because he’s a big guy, and he knows what he’s doing,” De La Hoya told “The MMA Hour” podcast. “He’s talented. As old as we were, we could still throw punches. We saw it with Evander Holyfield where he knocked him out (in the first round). I think I dodged a bullet there.”
De La Hoya also confirmed that he would never box again and would continue to focus on promoting.
Relationships and Children
De La Hoya began dating actor and former Miss USA Shanna Moakler in 1997, and the couple became engaged one year later. They had one daughter, Atiana, in 1999, but never married and split in September 2000 after Moakler saw footage of the boxer escorting another woman to the Latin Grammys.
Just a couple months later in December 2000, Moakler filed a $62.5 million palimony suit against the former champion to support the couple’s daughter. She alleged the boxer drank heavily and that she “sacrificed” her promising career in order to care for their daughter and cater to De La Hoya’s needs. They settled out of court in 2001.
De La Hoya married singer Millie Corretjer that same year. He and his wife welcomed their first child, Oscar Gabriel, in December 2005. The couple welcomed their second child, Nina Lauren, in 2007, and third, Victoria Lauren Rose, in 2014. De La Hoya and Corretjer separated in 2016 and, in January 2023, the boxer officially filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.
De La Hoya also has two sons from previous relationships: Jacob in February 1998 with Toni Alvarado, and Devon in November 1998 with Angelique McQueen.
De La Hoya has been candid about his detached parenting role, telling Entertainment Tonight in July 2023, “Look, I didn’t raise my kids, you know? Their moms did, and I have to give credit where credit is due.”
The boxer began dating model and sports broadcaster Holly Sonders in 2021, with the couple still together as of July 2023.
Scandals and Controversies
De La Hoya has been accused of sexual assault three times. In 1998, a 15-year-old alleged De La Hoya raped and imprisoned her in a Mexico hotel room. The case was settled out of court three years later.
In 2017, an unidentified woman filed a civil suit accusing De La Hoya of assault, battery, and gender violence that called the boxer “malicious.” The woman dropped the suit in 2020, and it was not clear if a settlement had been reached.
Then in 2022, an executive of the Casa Mexico Tequila distillery accused De La Hoya of two instances of sexual assault. The status of the case is unclear.
De La Hoya has fought drug and alcohol abuse throughout his life, checking into rehab in 2011 and 2013. In 2007, risqué photos emerged of De La Hoya wearing fishnets, high heels, and lingerie. Although he first denied their authenticity, the boxer revealed in a 2011 interview that the pictures were real and he was high on alcohol and cocaine when they were taken. He also admitted he began to have suicidal thoughts because of the scandal. “One of these nights when I was drunk and alone again, I asked myself, ‘Is it worth it to be alive?’ I was already feeling like I had nothing,” De La Hoya said, according to the New York Post.
Oscar De La Hoya Net Worth
According to Celebrity Net Worth, De La Hoya’s net worth is around $200 million. Much of his fortune stems from his post-boxing career as a promoter and investor.
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