What makes a Golden Boy?

be american, be white, good looking and win olympic gold and the us media will make you what oscar is today.

3.) He is an American, lighter skinned gold medalist. People can say people arent racist but the fact of the matter is no one has gotten more exposure for being an olympic gold medalist than this guy. He is appealing to white american eye (majority). What about Sugar Ray Leonard? He didn't make as much money (might have if he came up in DLH's era), but he was definately a bigger household name than Oscar De La Hoya. It's got more to do with their charisma, their charm and personality. Both are well spoken and respectful infront of the camera. And coming up, through the gold medal into the pros, they had exciting styles. Everyone wanted to see them. And then they each had their big fights, which exposed them to bigger and bigger audiences each time. Fans liked what they saw and kept coming back. I was one of them. I heard of this new exciting sensation who had won the gold in Barcelona and was on a quest for greatness in the pros and was interested to see him in the ring. I saw some of his fights and watched him massacre the great Julio Cesar Chavez and he's been my favorite fighter ever since. I became a massive boxing fan because of it. Before I only knew about Tyson's big fights and then his comeback and didn't know much else besides maybe that Chavez had an amazing record and that was it.

i think he's no longer able to sell like is expected to,but damn did he have a good run, funny how who ever beat him didn't get any of his marketability

Probably for beating Chavez twice, I don't blame them tho, Chavez was a real icon. i pity them because most of them didnt even see the fights, they're just jealous oscar is a rich pretty boy....pretty sad if you ask me...

cool i meant there arent many of us, lol, almost evryone here in mexico hates him... Probably for beating Chavez twice, I don't blame them tho, Chavez was a real icon.

I'm a fan of Oscar too. cool i meant there arent many of us, lol, almost evryone here in mexico hates him...

me and my brother are probably oscar's only mexican fans lol, he's hated down here.....("mexican"-americans are obviously not included in this statement...) I'm a fan of Oscar too.

me and my brother are probably oscar's only mexican fans lol, he's hated down here.....his fan base is mostly american and "mexican"-american

and there will never be another like tha golden boi... i dont see none of the current fighters who have the swagger of DE LA HOYA.. the closet thing would be MIGUEL COTTO, i think he'll be the next big star, but not clearly as big as the golden boi...

well also because he is mexican-american he has a great fan base... he got the American fan base as he repped the US in the olympics, had the mexican-american fan base, and the mexican fans. he speaks perfect english, and good enough spanish. he pretty much fought all the great fighters of his era around his weight (exception of winky, which could still happen) and is a humble, kool guy

He seldom seems angry enough at a loss. He puts on a plastic face in the ring, and then hurls a string of profanities in the tunnel (Tito fight). Shane is the same way. I admire him for being able to tell Tito good fight, even after the scorecards were announced... I would have told him he is a god damn fraud, and that he should burn in hell (even though it wasn't his fault). It amazes me that Oscar was able to hold it together after some of his losses, but I guess all is well when controversial decisions go both ways for a guy. Now someone like Quartey, that guy has a right to start killing people in the ring after he gets a bad decision, because that is all that guy gets.

Oscar is the luckiest muthafucka alive. He is the right combination of alot of things. Talent - he has enough of it to be competitive in every fight. And he stayed committed. Exposure - He was in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics which was a hugely popular and succesful Olympic Games. All of the athletes benefited from the Dream Team exposure. Good Looks - he is a handsome guy, and that draws the women, Madison Avenue, and the gays. He is an Anglo-appearing Mexican, so he gets white babes and the square-hipped quinceanera Mexican girls Backstory - his mother had cancer and they did Olympic profiles about that. He dedicated his gold medal to her, which got him a lot of justified sympathy. He handled that loss very well. Bilingual - He speaks very good English and decent Spanish... appeals to both crowds LA-Based - He is from a huge metropolitan area. So he has a large , built-in fan base. And LA is close to Vegas, allowing his fans to drive in. Business Savvy - He has been focused on the right things almost from the outset. He did a good job in getting his name out there Management/Promotion - Bob Arum is great at getting his fighter's name out. Mayweather is a huge star despite being largely unlikable personally. Arum pushed hard to get margarito a big fight, and Arum already has Cotto slated for his third PPV. ODLH needs to remember all that Top Rank did for him. Timing - AND THIS ONE IS HUGE!! - Oscar came up in the mid 90's when alot of BIG names were available to fight. Camacho, Chavez, Whitaker, etc. And they were all aging and beatable. So he put some class A names on his resume, even though they were Class B fighters at the time. That helped him get alot of exposure. Big Fights - Oscar had top quality guys in their prime available : Shane and Trinidad. Both those guys are likable and the Tito fight did 1.2 mil and the two Shane fights did a combined 1.6 mil Controversy - The boxing public talked about the Whitaker, Quartey and Trinidad fights. Disputed decisions -IF HONEST - are good for boxing. That keeps his name on the lips of the boxing public. I'VE PROBABLY MISSED SOME FACTORS... WHAT ELSE? Personality - A very nice guy... always gives his opponents their due after fights. Forgave Mayorga after he did shit punishable by death in most countrys. So nice in fact, that he is good friends with everyone that beat him.

amazing olympic talent, awesome back story .. always facing the best and beating some realy good, if not great names.

LMAO, I love Hopkins.

http://www.bharatiyahockey.org/olympics/padak/images/medals/1992medal.jpg + http://www.nndb.com/people/758/000095473/Oscar_de_la_Hoya.jpg = Golden Boy

wat makes a fighter sell like De La Hoya does,i mean wat did he do,did Jones ever make ppv #s like De La Hoya, i mean he's lost some of his biggest fights Hopkins Mosley I, supposedly Trinidad,yet he sells like no other,and he's not exactly the most entertaining fighter,im not saying he sucks, no way ,just wondering how he became what he is Oscar De La Hoya has quite a few things going for him, I dont think there is any X factor it just is what it is. 1.) He is a handsome mofo... No one has brought women to the sport like him and you can attribute a lot of sales to women. 2.) He is Mexican American therefore he gets sales from both audiences not just one audience. (Keep in mind women from both audiences too lol) 3.) He is an American, lighter skinned gold medalist. People can say people arent racist but the fact of the matter is no one has gotten more exposure for being an olympic gold medalist than this guy. He is appealing to white american eye (majority). 4.) The guy is very likeable to the public. He has never really said or done anything that has really made a large audience call him ignorant, or a loudmouth. Therefore not only does he not loose any fans, but he makes them by at least appearing to be a class act. 5.) And one of the most important things, He is a hell of a business man. Possibly the best business man the sport has ever seen. He treated Bob Arum like the employee he is and in all reality who was the last fighter to ever treat his promoter like an employee? I sure cant remember.

How old are you? The guy's winding everyone up, man. I bet it's one of the regulars here trying to get a laugh out of us.

hmm?mean how?oscar is my hero and hes a good singer too.my dad bought me his cd last christmas. How old are you?

He has the look,the speed,the power,he can talk correctly.He's an exciting fighter,and he fights anybody. No one out there has that package.

Oscar had that x factor, something you can't describe. He was and still is beloved by everybody who watches the sport, and some who don't know anything about it. He' a once in a lifetime kinda guy in that regard. I dont and so is the same with alot of other people.