By: Julia Aidan
Submitted: 2009-06-24 00:23:57 | Word Count: 555
After winning 10 world championships in six weight divisions, the Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya has finally come to the decision that the time has come to hang up his boxing gloves. The announcement was made yesterday in front of hundreds of faithful fans from a street across the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where a life-sized statue of the Golden Boy stands erect.
The Legend
De La Hoya started boxing at the very young age of 5, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather who were also fighters. His career was catapulted by his gold medal-winning performance in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He notched up a very impressive amateur record with 223 wins, 163 coming by way of knockout and only 5 losses. The Golden Boy would then go on and win 10 world titles in six different world classes in the next decade of his career, beating the likes of Julio Cesar Chavez, Arturo Gatti and Bernard Hopkins, among others. Oscar has been a cash cow for television network HBO, which did broadcasts for 32 of his fights. His bouts were always guaranteed to earn millions of dollars as the Golden Boy remains to be one of the most profitable boxers of all time.
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The Beginning of the End
It was way back in 2002 when Oscar beat Fernando Vargas, perhaps the last formidable win the Golden Boy has added to his impressive tally. De La Hoya though won his last title against an under-matched Ricardo Mayorga in 2006, where he defeated him in six rounds to take hold of the 154-pound WBC title. Nonetheless, experts and fans alike have expressed their observations regarding the decline of De La Hoya's boxing skills and some even claimed that he was no longer the feared fighter he used to be.
Oscar lost four of his last seven fights and some claim that the beginning of the end was the defeat to former pound for pound king Floyd Maywether, Jr. in May of 2007. The Golden Boy's last match was against a much smaller but formidable champion Manny Pacquiao, where he was thoroughly beaten in 8 unanswered rounds in December of last year. The Golden Boy ended his career with a record of 39 wins and 6 losses, with 30 knockouts.
Time's Up
Some argue that De La Hoya's retirement came in a few months, or even a year too late. Even when he beat Steve Forbes in 12 rounds in 2008, critics believed that he was not the same man and lacked the speed, power and ferocity that once made him one of the most feared fighters in the world. Four months after a lopsided loss to current pound for pound champion Manny Pacquiao, the Golden Boy has finally decided that his time his come. This however does not mean that he will leave the boxing world entirely. Oscar has become one of the best promoters in the game today and the success of his company Golden Boy Promotions means that the legend will remain relevant in the boxing world in years to come.
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