05.05.06 – By Bryce Wren: Once upon a time, a young Mexican-American kid with a golden smile accumulated an amateur boxing record of 223-5 (163). Once upon a time in 1992, the same young matinee idol fulfilled a death bed promise to his mother to win a gold medal in the Barcelona Olympics. After taking home gold, he immediately began a campaign demonstrating his charm and “golden” smile on talk shows like The Tonight Show – With Jay Leno and immediately became a media darling, and resident “hunk” to many young start struck fans of the opposite sex. He was gifted one of the largest pro signing bonuses ever given to a fighter. Then he turned pro.
Indeed, everything Oscar De La Hoya touched, seemed to turn in to the invaluable metal, even through a few rocky moments early in his career. Fighting and defeating soundly a solid pro like Jeff Mayweather in only his 5th pro fight, Oscar seemed to be worth every penny of it. Gaining his first world title (WBO super featherweight) in only his 12th fight, nothing seemed like more of a sure shot.
We all know that De La Hoya went on to win multiple titles in many weight classes, and there is no doubt that he will be welcomed with open arms in the boxing hall of fame. That debate went out the window nearly a decade ago. But this article is simply to question whether or not the “golden boy” still shines, whether he’s simply fooling us, or more likely, whether he is just fooling himself.
One of the most notable things about Oscar’s career, has been his marketability. It is unparalleled in the sport. With Oscar’s total life time earning estimated to be over the 200 million dollar mark, he’s nearly made as much as all of the other below 150lbs fighters throughout history combined.
But, I have to question whether or not De la Hoya is still a Pay Per View Fighter at this stage in his life. It’s not like he’s a champion any longer…in fact it’s been almost three years since he’s held a legit title (the WBO belt he “won” from Germany’s Felix Sturm was generally considered a terrible decision). And the fact is, in his last 10 fights, he’s gone 6-4 (4). When you consider that with some judges that were not vision impaired during the Sturm fight, he would have been 5-5 (4), it’s hardly impressive and maybe the “Golden” moniker should be put to rest. More and more as the years go by, it’s looking like fools gold, if anything.
During his 6-4 (4) run, Oscar has faced exactly four A level opponents. Felix Trinidad, Shane Mosely (twice), Fernando Vargas and Bernard Hopkins. His record against those fighters has been 1-4. Is that really worth all of our pay per view dollars? Particularly to see him fight the likes of Ricardo Mayorga? Mayorga is just barely above the level of journeyman, and only his punching power keeps him out of that category. Yet…this is suppose to be Oscar’s big return to the ring after taking nearly 2 years off from boxing? I recall De la Hoya claiming nearly a decade ago that he was only interested in taking “big fights.” What he failed to mention was that he couldn’t beat any of them.
Yeah, he’ll probably make it past Mayorga, but really, who cares? Will it mean anything to boxing? Will it mean that we have to put up with more of his arrogant, fake smile and cheesy pre-arranged phoney interviews? If he expects us to pay 40 or 50 dollars to see this fight, what will he demand if he ever rematches Fernando Vargas again, or if he ends up fighting a Floyd Mayweather Jr.? Just how much money is De la Hoya worth? Not 10 years ago, but now.
If you ask me, the value of gold has gone down quite a bit since Oscar gutted out a close win against Ike Quartey.
I for one will be spending my hard earned money on a pay per view with two full time boxers, who preferably aren’t more busy releasing love song albums or trying to become one of the nasty promoters that De la Hoya used to lambast publically on a regular basis. Oscar, you can keep your “fools gold.”