The Golden Career of Oscar De La Hoya

Born February 4, 1973 in East Los Angeles, Oscar was a scion of a boxing family and first put on the gloves at the tender age of 6. His grandfather, father, and older brother were all fighters, although none ever achieved serious repute.

He enjoyed a stellar amateur career with a record of 223-5, with a staggering 163 KOs. In 1989, de la Hoya won his first title, the National Golden Gloves Featherweight Championship. That was followed by a 1990 National Amateur Championship, and a Gold Medal at the 1990 Goodwill Games. It was during 1990 that his mother passed away from cancer. He moved up to Lightweight and captured the 1991 National Amateur Championship, but lost at the World Amateur Championships in Sydney, Australia. The next year he went to the Barcelona Olympics, and in the final round at he avenged his loss to Marco Rudolph of Germany, whipping him by 7-2. It won him the Gold, which he famously dedicated to his mother. Oscar went home, and turned pro in November with a 1st Round KO in Inglewood, CA.

Over the next year, de la Hoya rapidly built up an 11-0 with 10 knockouts record as a lightweight, including a spectacular 1st Round knockout of Troy Dorsey. He then dropped down to super featherweight (130 lbs) to fight 16-0 Jimmy Bredahl of Denmark for the WBO title. The Golden Boy knocked the Dane down in the 1st and 2nd, and stopped him in the 10th. The WBO was still lightly regarded in 1993, and Bredahl never amounted to much, so many consider de la Hoya's claim to a true 130 lbs championship to be dubious. He defended the title only once, against then-undefeated journeyman Giorgio Campanella of Italy. Campanella knocked de la Hoya down in the 1st, but Oscar came back to flatten Campanella in the 2nd and 3rd, leading his corner to throw in the towel.

Lightweight Champion

If his tenure at 130 lbs was uninspiring, his move back to 135 lbs was a step forward. In July 1994, de la Hoya met the colorful Mexican Jorge Paez. Paez was a 29 year old solid lightweight contender, with a record of 53-6-4 including wins over the likes of Troy Dorsey and losses to the likes of Pernell Whittaker. De la Hoya knocked him out cold in 2 Rounds to win the vacant WBO Lightweight Championship.

This was the start of de la Hoya's first real reign as a champion. In 1994, he stopped a pair of journeymen before meeting John John Molina, a 30 year old veteran super featherweight who had beaten the likes of Juan de la Porte and Manuel Medina. Oscar easily outpointed him over 12 Rounds in February 1995. The next fight was a unification bout with Rafael Ruelas, the reigning IBF Lightweight Champion, and a fierce puncher with a 43-1 record. Ruelas had not lost a bout in 4 years, but de la Hoya came out and tore him apart, knocking him down twice before finally knocking him out in the 2nd Round. That impressive win announced that Oscar de la Hoya had truly arrived, and was a force to be reckoned with.

Dropping the IBF title rather than pay the sanctioning fees to keep it, de la Hoya fought East Los Angeles veteran Gernaro Hernandez. Hernandez was 30, undefeated, and had reigned as the WBA's 130lbs Champion for three years. The Golden Boy outboxed him before shattering his nose with an uppercut, leading to a stoppage after the 6th Round. Hernandez would return to 130lbs, win the WBC belt at that weight, and keep it until meeting defeat at the hands of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Oscar closed 1995 by another former 130lbs champion, 29 year old Jesse James Leija. Leija was in the midst of a round-robin contest with Azumah Nelson and Gabriel Ruelas, but de la Hoya crushed him inside of 2 Rounds.

In later years, Oscar de la Hoya would often be criticized for fighting smaller, older men who were past their best. None of that shows during his reign as a Lightweight Champion, which showed six defenses against creditable opposition. Of his opponents during this period, none were over 30 and none were shopworn. All would go on to remain serious contenders and some would win world championships. The criticism that de la Hoya only fought the old and overweight on his way up rings false.

During this phase of Oscar de la Hoya's career, his style as a boxer-puncher was characterized by his left hand. Originally a leftie, Oscar was taught how to box as an orthodox, right-handed fighter. This gave him a rapier-like jab and a bone crushing left hook and left uppercut, but his right hand was more or less an afterthought. It would not be far from the mark to call him a one-handed fighter, but that one hand was a world class weapon. Rounding out the package were fast hands, good reflexes, the ability to take a punch, sound defensive skills, and a decent height (5'10 1/2") and reach (73") advantage.

The Hearts and Minds of Mexico

After destroying Leija, de la Hoya moved up to 140lbs and began looking for a showdown with the King of Mexican boxing, Julio Cesar Chavez. He got him in a megafight in June 1996. 96-1-1, Chavez was dangerous, but a few weeks shy of 34, was definitely on the downside of his career. He has already been de facto defeated by Pernell Whittaker, and suffered his first recorded defeat to Frankie Randall. However, Chavez was still the WBC 140lbs Champion, and beloved by legions of Mexican fans. De la Hoya used his reach and speed to utterly dominate Chavez, opening a terrible gash with his slicing jab that forced a stoppage in the 4th Round. Chavez, with his characteristic lack of sportsmanship, made excuses and dismissed de la Hoya as unworthy. The victory did little to endear de la Hoya to Mexican fight fans, who continued to adore their now very tarnished king.

However, Oscar had taken Chavez's green WBC title belt, and was now an established star on HBO's Boxing programs. He made his first defense of it in January 1997, meeting undefeated Miguel Angel Gonzalez, a former lightweight champion with a distinguished nine defense record. De la Hoya utterly dominated Gonzalez on his way to a thorough points victory.

Dethroning a Legend

In April 1997, Oscar de la Hoya moved up to 147 lbs to challenge another HBO favorite, Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whittaker. A member of the famed 1984 US Olympic Boxing Team, Whittaker was the great defensive master of the 20th Century. He had reigned as the Undisputed World Lightweight Champion, and was widely regarded as the leading champion in a division that included Felix Trinidad and Ike Quartey. At 33, he was past his best, but still a sharp and formidable champion.

De la Hoya exuded confidence going into the bout. When asked how he felt about challenging a future Hall of Famer like Whittaker in the division of Sugar Ray Robinson, Oscar replied that he was glad to go up in weight so he could eat an extra shrimp taco every day. The contest was a tactical match of boxing skill between two great competitors, with Whittaker pulling off feats of defensive wizardry that as only he could do. However, his skills did not befuddle de la Hoya as much as they did other opponents: Oscar's jab repeatedly found its mark, as was visible from the heavy swelling around Whittaker's right eye. De la Hoya went down on a slip in the 9th, but it was counted as a knockdown; Whittaker lost a point for headbutting in the 3rd. It was a close contest which could have rightly been called a Draw, but de la Hoya received a highly questionable Unanimous Decision by margins of 5 and 6 points on the scorecards.

After the fight, Whittaker declared that the next issue of Sports Illustrated would bear the headline "Robbed Again!" (it's cover had previously declared his dubious Draw with Chavez was a robbery). The truth is that the fight was a hard one to judge, and a narrow win for de la Hoya could have been justified. It was not that he won, but that he won by such a huge, unrealistic margin that stank. Making matters worse, de la Hoya never gave Whittaker a rematch.

In the Spring of 1997, however, none of that mattered. Oscar de la Hoya was now charismatic, nationally-known boxer with geniuine cross-over appeal, and the highest paid boxer outside of the heavyweight division. Occupying a position akin to that of Ray Leonard 15 years before, de la Hoya sat at the center of the welterweight division.

Sources: boxrec.com; Live Fight Footage; The Ring; International Boxing Digest; Sports Illustrated; http://www.goldenboypromotions.com/fighters/oscar.php.