In an interview with Spanish station Univision Oscar De La Hoya admits that the struggle with his substance abuse is the biggest fight of his life, even tougher than battling his former opponents Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, and Fernando Vargas in the ring all at the same time. Oscar also admitted the infamous cross dressing photos of him were indeed real, not Photoshopped, and he was tired of living a life of lies.
Oscar De La Hoya, 35, was America’s “Golden Boy” winning the gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, his story leading up to the gold medal match was inspiring, his mother who was his biggest support system growing up died of cancer before the Olympic games and he promised his mother he would win the gold medal, and Americans were rooting for this poor kid from East Los Angeles win the gold for his mom and for America. Once Oscar turned pro, he was automatically a superstar becoming one of the biggest pay-per-view attractions in the world of boxing. Anything Oscar touched seemed to turn to gold, living up to his nickname the “Golden Boy,” in fact, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao didn’t become pay-per-view powerhouses until they fought Oscar De La Hoya.
But even through all of his successes and accomplishments in and out of the ring, he was unhappy and fell victim to drugs and living an unfaithful life. Oscar admits in the Univision interview to cheating on his beautiful Puerto Rican singer/actress wife Millie Corretjer. Oscar’s biggest problems came after his 2008 TKO loss at the hands of the current pound for pound king Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, the defeat was tough to swallow and Oscar De La Hoya retired. Ricky Hatton is another star boxer who went into heavy drug usage after his loss to Manny Pacquiao, and after going into drug rehab and a long time thinking about his boxing career, finally called it quits this year.
Watch a portion of Oscar De La Hoya’s candid interview with Univision:
