As Oscar de la Hoya In other words, when geared up for greatness, it can also be destined for ruin. Oscar de la Hoya has seen both sides and successes, but now he tells the full story of his illustrious life and career.
Now one of boxing’s most celebrated promoters, the boxing icon reveals all the championships and scandalous details in a new two-part documentary. golden boywill premiere on July 24 HBO and HBO Max. For De La Hoya, coming clean to one’s demons is like therapy to cleanse a secret that’s been locked up for decades, and he says it feels good to let it out. “It’s real and raw,” De La Hoya told M&F. “This is not sugar-coated, it literally speaks the truth.”
By the time De La Hoya reached kindergarten, De La Hoya had logged more hours of physical education than most people would in a lifetime and was soon anointed as a handgun prodigy. At age 6, De La Hoya had already laced up his gloves and he was out for his morning run while other kids his age were learning math.
His days were spent boxing, sparring, lifting, and even following a regular diet before he was seven. His “military style” regimen of daily sprints or six-mile runs, followed by 12 rounds of sparring, culminating in an evening weight room session, continued into his youth. All for the goal of an Olympic gold medal.
“It was literally a 24/7 job,” says De La Hoya. “Your mind had to be laser focused 24/7. [full-time] work. “
He says he won a gold medal at the 1992 Olympics, had his best moment as an athlete, and became a global prodigy. The best moment of his career, he says, was when it was dedicated to his mother Cecilia, who died of breast cancer in 1990. “I literally felt numb on the podium,” he said. “When I heard the American National Anthem, I literally couldn’t laugh, I couldn’t laugh, I couldn’t cry. I was just dumbfounded because my hard work since I was five years old literally paid off in that moment.”
From there he won his first 31 bouts and quickly became the face of boxing. He went on to win 10 world titles in six different divisions, including victories over icons like Julio Cesar Chavez and Pernell Whitaker. The final year of De La Hoya’s 39-6 career was a little more humble. Embarrassing knockout losses to Manny Pacquiao and Bernard Hopkins were some of the early signs that the Golden Age was coming to an end.
Well, as part of his winning strategy, De La Hoya’s key to happiness is balance. Although he works hard every day in the gym, the former champion no longer pushes himself. His daily routine still consists of jumping rope and shadow boxing, but he’s changed his gloves (for the most part) and taken out his golf clubs. “If I could do it every day, I would,” he says.
Winning Strategy: Oscar De La Hoya
1. Acceptance is better than repression
I have been traumatized since birth. When I was six, my inner circle labeled me the next great champion. And because everyone treated me differently, something changed in you. You keep winning matches and championships, everyone admires you — and you start believing it. And you start living a life that is not yours.
So finally, after all these years of winning gold medals, world titles, being watched, criticized, and under the microscope all over the world, I always felt like I wasn’t who I was.
So it feels kind of liberating now to tell this story in my own way on HBO Max. Telling it as it is, the real story, the truth is very therapeutic for me. So it’s like liberating yourself from the world.
[Keeping it bottled] I was exhausted physically and mentally. Luckily, I had boxing as an outlet for my frustrations, and when I got angry, I could go boxing and punch someone without getting arrested. It was my refuge, my office, my safe haven. So everything I went through and endured in my personal life, boxing was my exit.
2. Stay healthy in the madness
I was a trained and conditioned robot from the beginning. I laced up my gloves at age 5 and it was all for boxing, including my diet at age 6 and 7. My parents just conditioned me to be a damn robot. And all I knew was military style. When I was younger, I used to do this at this time, I went to bed at 8:00 pm and woke up at 5:00 in the morning to go running. It’s part of my lifestyle.
Toned down a little. My life is more balanced now. Before, it was all about boxing and just focusing on the bigger picture of being a world champion, a gold medalist and making everyone happy. And now my life and lifestyle are all in balance. I have never been more focused. I’ve never paid more attention to it. I’m just trying to balance everything out.
I love jumping rope now. Now that I’m 50, my knees and ankles are a little shaky from hitting the pavement for years as a kid, but jumping rope on soft pavement feels great. I do a lot of weight training, small weights, and shadow boxing. Basically, I challenge shadow box and jump rope almost every day. I will have her in an hour. I have a 5-6 lb thick, heavy rope he has. You can probably do 12 rounds of 3 minutes each. It keeps you in great shape. Arms are raised and conditioning is the best. And it’s fun.
When I used to wrestle, I would go to the gym all day during my peak hours. After sparring and weight training, I still want to do something. Because, as an athlete, I want to make sure I’m ready physically and mentally. Now I keep it under an hour. Like I said, everything is in balance. And when I’m lifting weights and I’m jumping rope, I feel like I’m doing a great job, but I know in my head not to overdo it.
3. Evolution beyond complacency
Overlaying myself in the children I promote. I understand their talent and potential. As you know, there is no other promoter in the world who can tighten the laces of his gloves as much as I do, so I gave him all this information and knowledge both in and out of the ring. So the transition was easy for me.
It’s fun. I love boxing so much because this sport gave me everything and I owe everything to boxing. I mean, you know the fact that I’m still promoting these young players, you know, like the Ryan Garcias of this world promoting Canelo. [Alvarez] And you know, we have to promote [Manny] Pacquiao and [Floyd] Mayweather and all that. It’s the only way I can stay in the game. It keeps me sane. And it keeps me at peace.
I was always fighting at the highest level and if I was happy I would have fallen easily. So all my opponents were very dangerous. So if I was content after winning my first world title, I would have lost and been eaten by more sought after, harder training fighters.
I think mental toughness is just as important as physical work. Not training is easy. It’s easy to say, “I’m going to rest today,” but it’s very difficult to tell yourself every day. I have to do this, I want to do this. And we want to stay at the highest level. I want to compete with the best players.
After fighting so many world titles and so many world champions, I sometimes surprised myself that I had that kind of mentality over the years, but it’s exactly what I needed.
4. Bounce back better and stronger from adversity
One of my biggest regrets is when I got knocked out by Bernard Hopkins. I moved up to middleweight and he was the middleweight champion. And I was aiming for my 6th division, my 10th world title. He hit me with a body shot. And you know, one of the things I regret most about him is not being able to get up. It wasn’t that I couldn’t do it mentally, but I just didn’t have the physical strength. But when he hit me physically, you know, he hit me with a body shot. 11 seconds was fine, but I was 1 second too late because I’m screaming right now. That’s the moment I regret the most.
I always tell myself to be mentally strong. Because the mind is very, very powerful. In other words, the mind can take you to places you thought you couldn’t go, physically or mentally. What I always remember is, if it hurts, push yourself. Push yourself because there is literally no tomorrow.
5. Teaching the next generation about mental toughness
we live in different times. You know, a fighter like me, Floyd Mayweather. We have this toughness within us because of the way we were raised. Times are different.The fact that I can talk to these children [about mental health] I will help. A lot of kids fold up very easily, so I tell these kids, “It’s okay, you can train hard and you can balance your life.” As a promoter, I try to be responsive because I have to push them. I try to keep my message to them balanced. They are grateful because I came from that path.
this is [also] About respecting what you do. If you really want to do it, go out and do it 1,000 percent. Don’t be half-hearted. don’t cut yourself down. You are no different from me, and I am no different from you. The only difference is the way of thinking, and that is the point. So I tell my kids, if you think you’ve pushed yourself to the limit, you probably have 10-15 percent left in the tank. That’s exactly what I tell them. And most of the time it worked.
