Just a few days ago one, of boxing's biggest superstars -actually the biggest star in the sport recently- announced his retirement from the sport that has earned him countless millions and countless accolades. Most fans would have loved to see Oscar go out with at least a win, or go out in the way a brave Mexican fighter is supposed to, according to their customs.  Yet, Oscar has never been what most people perceive as a "typical" Mexican. He shunned that stigma a long time ago...

Oscar de la Hoya has always belonged to the United States, and everything he has done, his persona, his life style, has not been that of an average Mexican-born man. His parents happened to be Mexican, and he was born in East Los Angeles, which can be considered a bad area, yet, Oscar's ability to fight removed him and his family from that part of town and allowed them to move anywhere they chose.

I was fortunate, or maybe unfortunate, (depending on how you look at it), to fight Oscar de la Hoya in the ring. He defeated me via 4th round TKO. I'm too far  removed from that event to go into details of it but, I was asked after the fight how good I thought he was and I said, "he has potential to be great but he's not there yet."

Oscar would go on to make the things that I said about him appear as though I knew a little something about what they call "special fighters." De la Hoya was young, handsome and well spoken; he played all the right cards. It was almost as if his career was scripted; his rise was fast and furious as he became the darling of the American public. He captured the American Dream by winning the Gold Medal in the Barcelona (Spain) Olympics, but he also captured the hearts of the entire world, not only the United States, when he dedicated his win to his mother who was diagnosed with cancer, and he had promised he would bring home the Gold for her. Unfortunately she passed away, but he fulfilled a promise and whenever you saw that young kid holding up his gold medal, pointing it to the sky as if to say Mom I did it, it was priceless!

That child-like image Oscar was able to maintain throughout his entire career, that ray of innocence yet a quiet confidence... Yes, Oscar always knew how the game was supposed to be played. He never spoke badly of any of the fighters he faced. He was a master at building up his opponent, so when he conquered him, it looked a lot more appealing than if he had said "this guy can't beat me," and everyone knew it, including the opponent.

Even during the campaigns against his two most annoying opponents, he still didn't come too far out of character. I'm refering to Ricardo Mayorga and my nephew Floyd Mayweather Jr., while they both got under Oscar's skin, he never retaliated with the same degree of nastiness or distaste. Nevertheless, Oscar would go on to punish Mayorga in brutal fashion but lost by way of a split decision against Floyd Jr.  Oh, and how could I forget the Fernando Vargas nightmarish campaign, which became personal and culminated in a devastating beatdown for Vargas as well.

Oscar has far too many great moments to write about and maybe that single bad moment just may haunt him forever in the eyes of his true, die hard fans. The loss to Manny Pacquiao made his fans feel cheated because of Oscar's unwillingness to go out on his shield. The same fans that cheered as loudly as they could for him are now booing at the mere mention of his name or the showing of his face on the big screen at a boxing venue.

I would have liked to have seen Oscar go out like a great Champion should, and that is with a win. Yet he has a family that loves him and cares for his welfare; that is reason enough to call it a day. To be honest, he has nothing left to prove, he has accomplished all there is in the ring and now outside the ring his accomplishments are even greater because he is giving back to the sport he loves so dearly. Some people will never forgive Oscar for the way his last fight ended, and others will just become fans of the next potential Oscar. They will cheer for him as they did for Oscar, and wait and see if they can ride with him and have as great a journey as they did with Oscar.

I like Oscar as a person and feel that he made a brave decision, because he did it on his own or maybe with the help of his family but he didn't allow himself to be goated into something  he said he felt he could no longer do at the level he did once and no longer cheat the public. I think that is a very noble and respectful decision.

Farewell Oscar, thanks for all the great moments and thanks for the ride. You will be missed...
 

Questions? Comments? Post them in BRC's new Message Board...

4-17-2009