Apr 14 2009
Oscar Calls It A Career
If there was ever a bigger superstar in the history of East Los Angeles than Oscar De La Hoya, well I never heard of him. De La Hoya is the face of East L.A., Oscar is our hero, and much more, Oscar has gave back to many people in East L.A. like people gave to him.
Not many boxing fans knew about a young Oscar De La Hoya when he began his amateur career coming out of East L.A. which isn’t known for producing star athletes. What he did for the community’s of East L.A. in the summer of 1992 will never be forgotten.
It is one of my earliest sports memories, watching as a Mexican-American, like myself, won a Gold Medal in the Olympics. Then to learn that he won it for his mother who had recently passed away of cancer, it just seemed to mean that much more and I immediately became a fan.
After De La Hoya returned from Barcelona with his Gold Medal, I was lucky enough to meet Oscar on a press tour that he was making throughout East Los Angeles. Oscar became a professional boxer a while after winning his Gold Medal and it is safe to say he had much fan fare.
Oscar went on to become the most succesful Pay-Per-View draw in boxing history with matches against the best boxers of our time. De La Hoya didn’t have to win or lose, it was about the fact that he always fought hard, with dignity, and pride.
Trash talking isn’t something Oscar did, he is too classy for that, but he was going bring the fight to you and you’d best be ready. A lot of people will remember his last fight with Manny Pacquiao, but the true stamp on his career is his victory over Julio Cesar Chavez.
At 36 years of age, it feels like Oscar has been around forever. With a career record of 39-6, 30 by knockout and 10 titles in 6 different divisions, Oscar De La Hoya will be a Hall of Famer but more importantly he will always be “The Pride of East Los Angeles.”
J.M.Saucedo
I absolutely agree, and as much grief as Oscar gets, no one can deny his importance to the world of boxing and the hispanic community. I was at the Margarito v Mosely fight at the Staples Center and I was quite upset and shocked when the arena erupted in boos when the PA mentioned Oscar. He is a hometown boy that took the boxing world by storm, gave East L.A something to be proud of and here he was, receiving no love. Perhaps, Los Angeles boxing fans prefer to wait for another hometown boy that fights harder, is more relateable and will be more successful. That is a tall order which I do not see on the horizon. It is the loss of the fan who fails to recognize what Oscar really achieved in his long illustrious career.