Oscar De La Hoya has long since assured his boxing legacy.
Though now best known for being an outspoken promoter who has worked with stars like Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Ryan Garcia, De La Hoya made his name as an electrifying champion during the 1990s and 2000s.
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Nicknamed ‘The Golden Boy’ after picking up a gold medal at the 1992 Olympics, he went on to win no fewer than 10 world titles across six different divisions after an amateur record of 223-5.
His first world honours came in just his 12th fight and from there he rocketed with wins over the likes of Julio Cesar Chavez for the WBC 140-pound belt, Pernell Whitaker for the welterweight world title, Puerto Rican star Felix Trinidad and many more.
He also fought two of the sport’s biggest names in Floyd Mayweather, who beat him by split decision, and Manny Pacquiao, who forced him to retire in round eight.
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Speaking to The Ring magazine for their Best I Ever Faced feature he named ‘Pacman’ as the best fighter he ever entered the ring against.“I would have to say Pacquiao. I think his determination, his conditioning, his skill, his power, speed, footwork … he’s one of the fighters I most appreciated.”
‘Golden Boy’ also went on to say that Pacquiao would ‘easily’ have beaten Mayweather if the two had met in their prime.“Mayweather-Pacquiao would have been a lot different (if they’d fought) in their primes. Pacquiao would have beat (Mayweather) easy, absolutely.”
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Mayweather and Pacquiao did finally face off in a clash billed as the ‘Fight of the Century’ in 2015. Although the bout delivered on pay-per-view buys the action didn’t live up to the hype and ‘TBE’ ran out a clear winner on the scorecards, with many feeling the fight came too late in the day for Pacman.
