Oscar De La Hoya, born July 19, 1973, is a Mexican American boxer and won a gold medal for the US Boxing Team at the Barcelona Olympic Games. He was Ring Magazine’s “Fighter of the Year” in 1995 and their top-rated Pound for Pound fighter in the world in 1997. He made his professional debut on November 23, 1992; in his 12th professional fight, he won his first title, defeating Jimmy Bredahl, winning the WBO junior lightweight title. Several fights later, he moved up a division and beat Jorge Paez, winning the WBO lightweight title. He defeated John-John Molina in his first defense of the title.

He quickly moved up in weight again and challenged WBC junior welterweight champ Julio Cesar Chavez, his idol. During the fight held at Las Vegas’ Caesar’s Palace, De La Hoya cut Chavez’s eye in the 1st round; the fight was stopped during the 4th round due to the cut. On September 18, 1998, De La Hoya beat Chavez again by making him quit on his stool after the eighth round. He hired Floyd Mayweather, Sr. as his trainer and fought as a welterweight, defeating Arturo Gatti. On June 5, 2004, he challenged Felix Sturm for the WBO world middleweight title and won by a unanimous decision; he became the 1st boxer in history to win world titles in 6 weight divisions. He signed on to defend his title, in early 2007, against WBC welterweight champ Floyd Mayweather, Jr. The fight sold out in 3 hours and was the basis of the HBO series, “De La Hoya/Mayweather 24/7.” The fight took place on May 5, 2007; De La Hoya took the lead early, but Mayweather later took it away from him due to his speed. De La Hoya rallied, though, but Mayweather won the fight in a close split decision. A rematch is scheduled for September 20, 2008 in Las Vegas, NV; De La Hoya is also scheduled to fight Steve Forbes at the Home Depot center in Carson, CA on May 3, 2008. Floyd Mayweather, Sr. signed on to train De La Hoya for the rest of his career, even for the fight against his son.