Phil D. Jay
WBN Editor
Oscar De La Hoya was born in Montebello, California in 1973 and is a third generation boxer after his Mexican grandfather and father before him were both fighters in their own right.
He started boxing at a young age and had over two hundred amateur fights, losing just a handful on his way to claiming the 1989 National Golden Gloves Bantamweight Title.
In 1991, he was voted U.S Amateur boxer of the year and qualified for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona the following year. He duly returned to the U.S with the Gold medal around his neck, earning himself the nickname “The Golden Boy.”
He followed up his maiden victory with ten knockouts in his next eleven bouts and in just his 12th fight, most of them being at lightweight, was offered the chance to drop down a weight and fight for his first world title.
His opponent was another unbeaten fighter in Jimmy Bredahl, who was making his second defence of the WBO super-teatherweight title he had claimed two years previously.
The fight took place on Oscar’s home-soil in California on March 5th 1994 and in front a cheering home crowd, De La Hoya totally out-boxed the Danish southpaw before scoring a tenth round TKO to claim the belt at the age of just 21.
The title would be defended just once, two months later at the venue that would become his boxing home, Las Vegas. The fight took place on the undercard of a Roy Jones Jr title defence, where he easily knocked out Giorgio Campanella.
After the Campanella victory, he seized an opportunity to move back up to the weight where he had started his career to take on Jorge Paez and fight for the lightweight version of his WBO title.
Just four months after claiming the super-featherweight version, he totally overwhelmed the experienced 29 year-old former world featherweight champion to pick up his second world title with a second round KO.
Two knockout defences followed in 1994, before De La Hoya easily out-pointed John Molina at the MGM Grand to lead him into a unification battle with IBF lightweight champion Rafeal Ruelas.
Ruelas, 24, had an impressive 43 wins from his 44 contests and was making the third defence of the title he took from Freddie Pendleton a year earlier.
De La Hoya was again at his ruthless best, knocking out Ruelas within two rounds to claim the third world title of his career in only his 18th fight as a professional.
At this point, the signs of greatness were already possessed by De La Hoya even at such a young age and the whole of America had seemingly warmed to the young skinny kid with the bright smile and the movie star good looks.
Moving on in his career and sensing more accolades, Oscar would immediately gave up the IBF version of his title, but would make two defences of his WBO Title in 1995, with one an awesome second round knockout of Jesse James Leija at Madison Sqaure Garden.
A routine knockout beating of Darryl Tyson in a non-title contest in February 1996, brought “The Golden Boy” up another weight class to a meeting with the WBC light-welterweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez at Caesars Palace in April that year.
Chavez was a Mexican national hero, with only one loss in 98 bouts, five world titles behind him, bags of guile and experience in abundance. The 34 year-old Legend was being touted as the toughest test of De La Hoya’s career to date.
De La Hoya came into the ring with a Mexican flag on his shorts but because of his 1992 Olympic Gold Medal for the USA, the Mexicans we all for Chavez, with some even booing the American fighter.
Many people believe the fight should never have taken place in the first place with Oscar's Mexican connections, but it did and De La Hoya came out on top in a pulverising four round performance - showing he was at the peak of his powers, with Chavez maybe at the end of his.
Oscar had too much speed and power for the one time “unbeatable” Chavez and after the doctor took a look at his blood stained face, Joe Cortez waved the fight off to crown Oscar the winner, adding the WBC title at 140lbs to his growing belt collection.
Unbeaten Miguel Angel Gonzalez was the next challenger to De La Hoya’s crown, another Mexican, unbeaten in 41 contests and a former WBC lightweight title holder.
Every weight that Oscar moved up seemed to just make him bigger and stronger. The extra five pounds almost added and extra layer of muscle to De La Hoya that must have un-nerved his opponents.
Gonzalez proved a real tough customer though and took Oscar the distance for only the second time in his career, with judges handing De La Hoya an easy points victory and his 23rd career win.
Oscar was taking on all comers by now, moving up the weights again to face one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world in 1997, Pernell Whitaker.
Whitaker had only lost once in a contentious split decision and was also the first man to stop Julio Cesar Chavez from winning a fight at the height of his powers. The American had also held some form of the world title for over eight years and was expected to push De La Hoya all the way.
Another tough twelve rounder insued, but De La Hoya had matured so much he could pick an opponent apart round by round and get the points in the bag, as he did with Whitaker gaining a unanimous triumph.
Winning his fifth world title in a fourth different weight division, it was clear that the man was something special. He proved it again just two months later by knocking out David Kamau in two rounds, a man who had lost just once in 29 contests and never been knocked out.
Whatever the weight, whoever the opponent, Oscar seemed to know a way around his challengers, he had the boxing brain, the skills and the devastating power to with it, it all made for an outstandingly gifted fighter.
De La Hoya seemed settled at welterweight and made another six defences after the Kamau knockout, beating a 35 year-old Hector Camacho and an unbeaten Ike Quartey along with an over-the-hill Julio Cesar Chavez in an unnecessary rematch four years after their first meeting.
In September 1999, De La Hoya had the opportunity to add a sixth world title to his haul against undefeated knockout specialist Felix Trinidad at the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas.
It was the biggest pay-per-view event in for a non-heavyweight contest at the time and after twelve pulsating rounds, Trinidad was given a majority decision inflicting De La Hoya’s first professional defeat in his seven-year career.
Fans clambered for a remtach between the two fighters but after a five-month break, Oscar decided on a warm-up bout first and easily defeated Derrell Colley (34-1-2) for the lowly regarded IBA welterweight title via a seventh round KO.
Prior to De La Hoya’s victory over Colley, Trinidad had shockingly decided to move up to light-middleweight to challenge David Reid for his WBA Title, scuppering any chance of highly anticipated rematch between the pair.
That meant that Oscar was paired with undefeated former IBF lightweight champion “Sugar” Shane Mosley in a welterweight super-fight for the WBC title.
Whether the Trinidad loss had affected his confidence or if the preparation wasn’t right, are both hypothetical theories for the outcome as Oscar lost for the second time - again on points.
De La Hoya had already been put forward to face Arturo Gatti before the Mosley contest went ahead and fans wanted to see the fight regardless of a title being involved. Oscar went ahead with the bout for the fans with the intention of moving up to light-middleweight immediately after.
De La Hoya had to too much overall power for the former super-featherweight champion and a helpless Gatti was soundly beaten via a fifth round TKO. It was Gatti's penultimate fight before his legacy-sealing triology with Mickey Ward.
It was around this time when Oscar decided to look at a career outside of boxing and announced the formation of 'Golden Boy Promotions' where he would now promote his own fights along with the fights of other boxers and enlisted the help of Richard Schaefer as his right hand man and CEO.
True to his word after the Gatti fight, Oscar moved up to light-middleweight to challenge Javier Castillejo for the WBC title in June 2001, once again at the MGM Grand. Oscar then dominated the Spaniard to take his title by a landslide points margin for another world belt.
De La Hoya had claimed his seventh world title in five weight divisions and would now face an old amateur foe in his next challenge as a unification fight with WBA Champion Fernando Vargas came next.
Their rivalry dated back years and even though De La Hoya had originally said he would not fight Vargas, he finally signed the contract and the bout was set for early 2002.
The bout was nicknamed 'Bad Blood' and the rivalry would only intensify as Vargas was forced to pull out of the first scheduled meeting with a hand injury, meaning that by the time the fight went ahead in September 2002, Oscar hadn’t fought since June 2001.
The days of Oscar dominating his opponents had now gone. 'The Golden Boy' had found his level and any champion over 147lbs would be a stern test for him. Vargas did not disappoint, taking Oscar all the way before succumbing to his power in the eleventh round.
An eighth world title for De La Hoya was an amazing achievement. Even Vargas’ positive drugs test after the fight couldn’t take the shine off Oscar’s achievement and eight months later he would return to the ring.
He knocked out an aging Luis Ramon Campos in May 2003, before announcing a rematch with one of only two men to have defeated him, Shane Mosley. The fight was set for September 2003 at the MGM Grand.
De La Hoya had a perfect 6-0 record when fighting at the MGM Grand and was confident of avenging his defeat to 'Sugar' Shane three years earlier.
Even though he threw more punches than Mosley, it was Shane who came out on top once again, taking Oscar’s WBC light-middleweight title away from him and inflicting his third career defeat.
Oscar immediately moved up to middleweight, 31 ¼ pounds heavier than his first world title victory and focused his attention on the unbeaten German WBO middleweight champion Felix Sturm, who many believe that Oscar chose as he was the weakest of the 160lb champions.
With a game plan in mind though, De La Hoya was hoping for a money spinning super-fight with unified champion Bernard 'The Executioner' Hopkins, who was recognised as the pound for pound king at the time.
Oscar knew he would need a title to make the fight happen as Bernard held three of the middleweight belts (WBC, IBF and WBA), so targeting Sturm’s WBO Title was the perfect tactic to make the middleweight super-fight come off.
Sturm made Oscar looks tried and wilted at times and pushed him back as he struggled to out-work the hungrier champion. De La Hoya though, is controversial circumstances picked up Sturm’s title after twelve rounds, as the judges saw it 115-113 on all three cards in favour of Oscar but most journalists at ringside had Sturm winning the fight.
Oscar’s ninth world title in six weight divisions was achieved, if somewhat contentiously, and a super-fight with Hopkins was pencilled in for September 2004, just three months later.
With Oscar seeing Hopkins as a big middleweight, the bout was agreed at a catch-weight of 156lbs and would be held once again at the MGM Grand in Vegas, the scene of De La Hoya’s defeat to Shane Mosley.
Interest in the fight was immense with both fighters standing to earn $30 million dollars from the fight and an array of Hollywood stars were at ringside. with hundreds of millions of people tuning in to watch on TV.
Many people saw Hopkins’ size advantage as the deciding factor and it proved to be the case as 'B-Hop' pummelled De La Hoya with a body shot in the ninth round and ended Oscar’s unification hopes after a fairly one-sided battle.
Oscar took almost two years out of the ring in what proved to be a semi-retirement, before signing on to fight Ricardo Mayorga in an attempt to win back the WBC light-middleweight belt he held between 2001 and 2003.
Mayorga showed De La Hoya a complete lack of respect in the build up to what eventually turned out to be a full-blown grudge match when the bout took place in May 2006. With insults about his wife ringing if his ears, Oscar pounded Mayorga to the floor in the first round and finished off the Nicaraguan with a sixth round onslaught.
That win for Oscar meant an extra-ordinary tenth world title in six different weight divisions and would simply only add more gloss to an already extensive legacy for the Olympic champion.
Oscar would revel in his victory for around nine months before a certain Floyd Mayweather Jr decided to move up from welterweight and challenge him,. Oscar accepted the offer in a fight that was branded 'The World Awaits' and was pencilled in for May 5th 2007.
It would be another fight for Oscar against a man considered the best pound for pound fighter on the planet. De La Hoya rolled back the years at times but would just come up short against the undefeated 'Pretty Boy' - losing on a split decision despite pressing Mayweather for the full twelve rounds.
Oscar again stayed out of the ring for nearly nine months before the lure of the ring had him back in training for a match up with blown-up super-featherweight Steve “2 pounds” Forbes at a catch-weight of 150lbs.
There was no title on the line but Oscar completely out-classed the smaller Forbes to take a unanimous decision and won nearly every round on the three judges scorecards.
It would prove to be an ideal warm-up fight to build his confidence back up as an offer to fight WBC lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao was just around the corner. The fight was set for December 2008 but it would be a non-title fight at catch-weight of 145lbs.
Many people doubted whether De La Hoya still had the tools to go with his desire at the age of 35, but with Pacquiao having moved up from flyweight in a nine-year spell, others thought Oscar’s power could still be the telling factor.
Pacquiao showed unbelievable strength on the night and cemented himself as one of the pound for pound best in the world by stopping Oscar on his stool in the eighth round after a dominant performance over the six-weight world champion.
Oscar looked a shadow of his former self and was physically taken apart by the Filipino boxer, who himself was a five-weight world champion. Pacquiao was at the peak of his powers, whereas Oscar was at the end of the road.
Oscar De La Hoya officially retired from professional boxing on April 14th 2009 after winning ten world titles in six different weights.
WBO super-featherweight champion (1994)
WBO lightweight lhampion (1994-1995)
IBF lightweight champion (1995)
WBC light-welterweight champion (1996-1997)
WBC welterweight champion (1997-2000)
WBC light-middleweight champion (2001-2003)
WBA light-middleweight champion (2002-2003)
WBO middleweight champion (2004)
WBC light-middleweight champion (2006-2007)
Oscar's promotional company Golden Boy Promotions is now a major player in world of boxing, promoting a stable of world past and future champions including Amir Khan, Saul Alvarez and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Boxing owes a debt of gratitude to 'The Golden Boy' as he kept bums on seats for nearly 16 years as a professional and to have him still involved in the fight game only makes the sport we love all the more enjoyable.
WBN Editor
Oscar De La Hoya was born in Montebello, California in 1973 and is a third generation boxer after his Mexican grandfather and father before him were both fighters in their own right.In 1991, he was voted U.S Amateur boxer of the year and qualified for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona the following year. He duly returned to the U.S with the Gold medal around his neck, earning himself the nickname “The Golden Boy.”
Within two months, Oscar was lined up for his first professional contest and knocked out Lamar Williams with only one minute forty-two seconds on the timekeeper’s clock.
His opponent was another unbeaten fighter in Jimmy Bredahl, who was making his second defence of the WBO super-teatherweight title he had claimed two years previously.
The fight took place on Oscar’s home-soil in California on March 5th 1994 and in front a cheering home crowd, De La Hoya totally out-boxed the Danish southpaw before scoring a tenth round TKO to claim the belt at the age of just 21.
The title would be defended just once, two months later at the venue that would become his boxing home, Las Vegas. The fight took place on the undercard of a Roy Jones Jr title defence, where he easily knocked out Giorgio Campanella.
After the Campanella victory, he seized an opportunity to move back up to the weight where he had started his career to take on Jorge Paez and fight for the lightweight version of his WBO title.
Just four months after claiming the super-featherweight version, he totally overwhelmed the experienced 29 year-old former world featherweight champion to pick up his second world title with a second round KO.
Two knockout defences followed in 1994, before De La Hoya easily out-pointed John Molina at the MGM Grand to lead him into a unification battle with IBF lightweight champion Rafeal Ruelas.
Ruelas, 24, had an impressive 43 wins from his 44 contests and was making the third defence of the title he took from Freddie Pendleton a year earlier.
De La Hoya was again at his ruthless best, knocking out Ruelas within two rounds to claim the third world title of his career in only his 18th fight as a professional.
At this point, the signs of greatness were already possessed by De La Hoya even at such a young age and the whole of America had seemingly warmed to the young skinny kid with the bright smile and the movie star good looks.
Moving on in his career and sensing more accolades, Oscar would immediately gave up the IBF version of his title, but would make two defences of his WBO Title in 1995, with one an awesome second round knockout of Jesse James Leija at Madison Sqaure Garden.
A routine knockout beating of Darryl Tyson in a non-title contest in February 1996, brought “The Golden Boy” up another weight class to a meeting with the WBC light-welterweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez at Caesars Palace in April that year.
Chavez was a Mexican national hero, with only one loss in 98 bouts, five world titles behind him, bags of guile and experience in abundance. The 34 year-old Legend was being touted as the toughest test of De La Hoya’s career to date.
De La Hoya came into the ring with a Mexican flag on his shorts but because of his 1992 Olympic Gold Medal for the USA, the Mexicans we all for Chavez, with some even booing the American fighter.
Many people believe the fight should never have taken place in the first place with Oscar's Mexican connections, but it did and De La Hoya came out on top in a pulverising four round performance - showing he was at the peak of his powers, with Chavez maybe at the end of his.
Oscar had too much speed and power for the one time “unbeatable” Chavez and after the doctor took a look at his blood stained face, Joe Cortez waved the fight off to crown Oscar the winner, adding the WBC title at 140lbs to his growing belt collection.
Unbeaten Miguel Angel Gonzalez was the next challenger to De La Hoya’s crown, another Mexican, unbeaten in 41 contests and a former WBC lightweight title holder.
Every weight that Oscar moved up seemed to just make him bigger and stronger. The extra five pounds almost added and extra layer of muscle to De La Hoya that must have un-nerved his opponents.
Gonzalez proved a real tough customer though and took Oscar the distance for only the second time in his career, with judges handing De La Hoya an easy points victory and his 23rd career win.
Oscar was taking on all comers by now, moving up the weights again to face one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world in 1997, Pernell Whitaker.
Whitaker had only lost once in a contentious split decision and was also the first man to stop Julio Cesar Chavez from winning a fight at the height of his powers. The American had also held some form of the world title for over eight years and was expected to push De La Hoya all the way.
Another tough twelve rounder insued, but De La Hoya had matured so much he could pick an opponent apart round by round and get the points in the bag, as he did with Whitaker gaining a unanimous triumph.
Winning his fifth world title in a fourth different weight division, it was clear that the man was something special. He proved it again just two months later by knocking out David Kamau in two rounds, a man who had lost just once in 29 contests and never been knocked out.
Whatever the weight, whoever the opponent, Oscar seemed to know a way around his challengers, he had the boxing brain, the skills and the devastating power to with it, it all made for an outstandingly gifted fighter.
De La Hoya seemed settled at welterweight and made another six defences after the Kamau knockout, beating a 35 year-old Hector Camacho and an unbeaten Ike Quartey along with an over-the-hill Julio Cesar Chavez in an unnecessary rematch four years after their first meeting.
In September 1999, De La Hoya had the opportunity to add a sixth world title to his haul against undefeated knockout specialist Felix Trinidad at the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas.
Fans clambered for a remtach between the two fighters but after a five-month break, Oscar decided on a warm-up bout first and easily defeated Derrell Colley (34-1-2) for the lowly regarded IBA welterweight title via a seventh round KO.
Prior to De La Hoya’s victory over Colley, Trinidad had shockingly decided to move up to light-middleweight to challenge David Reid for his WBA Title, scuppering any chance of highly anticipated rematch between the pair.
That meant that Oscar was paired with undefeated former IBF lightweight champion “Sugar” Shane Mosley in a welterweight super-fight for the WBC title.
Whether the Trinidad loss had affected his confidence or if the preparation wasn’t right, are both hypothetical theories for the outcome as Oscar lost for the second time - again on points.
De La Hoya had already been put forward to face Arturo Gatti before the Mosley contest went ahead and fans wanted to see the fight regardless of a title being involved. Oscar went ahead with the bout for the fans with the intention of moving up to light-middleweight immediately after.
De La Hoya had to too much overall power for the former super-featherweight champion and a helpless Gatti was soundly beaten via a fifth round TKO. It was Gatti's penultimate fight before his legacy-sealing triology with Mickey Ward.
True to his word after the Gatti fight, Oscar moved up to light-middleweight to challenge Javier Castillejo for the WBC title in June 2001, once again at the MGM Grand. Oscar then dominated the Spaniard to take his title by a landslide points margin for another world belt.
De La Hoya had claimed his seventh world title in five weight divisions and would now face an old amateur foe in his next challenge as a unification fight with WBA Champion Fernando Vargas came next.
Their rivalry dated back years and even though De La Hoya had originally said he would not fight Vargas, he finally signed the contract and the bout was set for early 2002.
The bout was nicknamed 'Bad Blood' and the rivalry would only intensify as Vargas was forced to pull out of the first scheduled meeting with a hand injury, meaning that by the time the fight went ahead in September 2002, Oscar hadn’t fought since June 2001.
The days of Oscar dominating his opponents had now gone. 'The Golden Boy' had found his level and any champion over 147lbs would be a stern test for him. Vargas did not disappoint, taking Oscar all the way before succumbing to his power in the eleventh round.
An eighth world title for De La Hoya was an amazing achievement. Even Vargas’ positive drugs test after the fight couldn’t take the shine off Oscar’s achievement and eight months later he would return to the ring.
He knocked out an aging Luis Ramon Campos in May 2003, before announcing a rematch with one of only two men to have defeated him, Shane Mosley. The fight was set for September 2003 at the MGM Grand.
De La Hoya had a perfect 6-0 record when fighting at the MGM Grand and was confident of avenging his defeat to 'Sugar' Shane three years earlier.
Even though he threw more punches than Mosley, it was Shane who came out on top once again, taking Oscar’s WBC light-middleweight title away from him and inflicting his third career defeat.
Oscar immediately moved up to middleweight, 31 ¼ pounds heavier than his first world title victory and focused his attention on the unbeaten German WBO middleweight champion Felix Sturm, who many believe that Oscar chose as he was the weakest of the 160lb champions.
With a game plan in mind though, De La Hoya was hoping for a money spinning super-fight with unified champion Bernard 'The Executioner' Hopkins, who was recognised as the pound for pound king at the time.
Oscar knew he would need a title to make the fight happen as Bernard held three of the middleweight belts (WBC, IBF and WBA), so targeting Sturm’s WBO Title was the perfect tactic to make the middleweight super-fight come off.
Sturm made Oscar looks tried and wilted at times and pushed him back as he struggled to out-work the hungrier champion. De La Hoya though, is controversial circumstances picked up Sturm’s title after twelve rounds, as the judges saw it 115-113 on all three cards in favour of Oscar but most journalists at ringside had Sturm winning the fight.
Oscar’s ninth world title in six weight divisions was achieved, if somewhat contentiously, and a super-fight with Hopkins was pencilled in for September 2004, just three months later.
With Oscar seeing Hopkins as a big middleweight, the bout was agreed at a catch-weight of 156lbs and would be held once again at the MGM Grand in Vegas, the scene of De La Hoya’s defeat to Shane Mosley.
Interest in the fight was immense with both fighters standing to earn $30 million dollars from the fight and an array of Hollywood stars were at ringside. with hundreds of millions of people tuning in to watch on TV.
Many people saw Hopkins’ size advantage as the deciding factor and it proved to be the case as 'B-Hop' pummelled De La Hoya with a body shot in the ninth round and ended Oscar’s unification hopes after a fairly one-sided battle.
Oscar took almost two years out of the ring in what proved to be a semi-retirement, before signing on to fight Ricardo Mayorga in an attempt to win back the WBC light-middleweight belt he held between 2001 and 2003.
Mayorga showed De La Hoya a complete lack of respect in the build up to what eventually turned out to be a full-blown grudge match when the bout took place in May 2006. With insults about his wife ringing if his ears, Oscar pounded Mayorga to the floor in the first round and finished off the Nicaraguan with a sixth round onslaught.
That win for Oscar meant an extra-ordinary tenth world title in six different weight divisions and would simply only add more gloss to an already extensive legacy for the Olympic champion.
Oscar would revel in his victory for around nine months before a certain Floyd Mayweather Jr decided to move up from welterweight and challenge him,. Oscar accepted the offer in a fight that was branded 'The World Awaits' and was pencilled in for May 5th 2007.
It would be another fight for Oscar against a man considered the best pound for pound fighter on the planet. De La Hoya rolled back the years at times but would just come up short against the undefeated 'Pretty Boy' - losing on a split decision despite pressing Mayweather for the full twelve rounds.
Oscar again stayed out of the ring for nearly nine months before the lure of the ring had him back in training for a match up with blown-up super-featherweight Steve “2 pounds” Forbes at a catch-weight of 150lbs.
There was no title on the line but Oscar completely out-classed the smaller Forbes to take a unanimous decision and won nearly every round on the three judges scorecards.
It would prove to be an ideal warm-up fight to build his confidence back up as an offer to fight WBC lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao was just around the corner. The fight was set for December 2008 but it would be a non-title fight at catch-weight of 145lbs.
Many people doubted whether De La Hoya still had the tools to go with his desire at the age of 35, but with Pacquiao having moved up from flyweight in a nine-year spell, others thought Oscar’s power could still be the telling factor.
Pacquiao showed unbelievable strength on the night and cemented himself as one of the pound for pound best in the world by stopping Oscar on his stool in the eighth round after a dominant performance over the six-weight world champion.
Oscar looked a shadow of his former self and was physically taken apart by the Filipino boxer, who himself was a five-weight world champion. Pacquiao was at the peak of his powers, whereas Oscar was at the end of the road.
Oscar De La Hoya officially retired from professional boxing on April 14th 2009 after winning ten world titles in six different weights.
WBO super-featherweight champion (1994)
WBO lightweight lhampion (1994-1995)
IBF lightweight champion (1995)
WBC light-welterweight champion (1996-1997)
WBC welterweight champion (1997-2000)
WBC light-middleweight champion (2001-2003)
WBA light-middleweight champion (2002-2003)
WBO middleweight champion (2004)
WBC light-middleweight champion (2006-2007)
Oscar's promotional company Golden Boy Promotions is now a major player in world of boxing, promoting a stable of world past and future champions including Amir Khan, Saul Alvarez and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Boxing owes a debt of gratitude to 'The Golden Boy' as he kept bums on seats for nearly 16 years as a professional and to have him still involved in the fight game only makes the sport we love all the more enjoyable.
.