Jobu defends the former world champion, because who cares what he does?

Former professional boxer, and current majority owner of Golden Boy Promotions, Oscar De La Hoya recently appeared in an interview on Univisión in which he made some controversial personal admissions. “The Golden Boy,” as he was known throughout his illustrious in-ring career, admitted to (among other things) being addicted to both cocaine and alcohol, and being unfaithful to his wife. Here at Jobu’s Rum, we appreciate a good athlete controversy. We love feeding the flames of rumor and hearsay in order to entertain our readers. In De La Hoya’s case, however, we say… who gives a shit?

As always, some quick background on our subject for those of you who don’t know him: De La Hoya, who is Mexican-American (born in East L.A.), first burst onto the boxing scene at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, when he won the gold medal in the bantamweight division. He was the only American boxer to take home any medal in those games, doing so famously to honor his mother’s dying wish. Once he turned pro, De La Hoya continued his winning ways. In his twelfth professional fight, he won the WBO Junior Lightweight title. In 1994, he won the WBO Lightweight title (also the IBF Lightweight title, although he relinquished that), which he held until he moved up to Light Welterweight in 1996. That year he famously bloodied and beat Mexican Legend Julio César Chávez for the WBC Light Welterweight championship. It was in 1997, when he moved up to Welterweight, that he had the best run of his career, winning another title and fighting the likes of Hector Camacho, Ike Quartay and, in one of the biggest PPV fights of all time… Félix Trinidad (a controversial loss). De La Hoya enjoyed success for a few more years (one notable feud with Fernando Vargas) before losses to Bernard Hopkins and the great Manny Pacquiao derailed his career and ultimately led to his retirement.

That brings us back to the other day and his “big reveal.”Is anyone really that shocked about any of the things Oscar said? Let’s break down his admissions and see if any of them really should be lauded as newsworthy.

1. Drug and alcohol addiction

In 2007, Forbes ranked De La Hoya #46 on their Celebrity 100. At the time, his PPV fights had grossed $612 Million dollars, and he had taken home $43 Million alone from his super fight with Floyd Mayweather. He made millions more in endorsements throughout his career. After his retirement, he formed Golden Boy Promotions, which currently boasts amazing fighters like Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana, Bernard Hopkins, Victor Ortiz and Juan Manuel Marquez. The point is, De La Hoya is dirty, stinking rich. Guess what happens when people have more money than they could ever spend and access to anything their heart desires (especially former athletes who are used to public adoration and glory). Well, a lot of times, they get bored and start drinking and coking it up. Is anyone really that surprised that De La Hoya did drugs and drank? It’s not like he had fights to train for or anything. You can still run a corporation like GBP while being a drug and alcohol addict (as if I had to tell you guys that). We should just be glad De La Hoya didn’t have these problems while he was boxing. That would have robbed him of his immense talent and he would have been left without all that money he later used on cocaine…. Yes, Ironic.

2. Being unfaithful to his wife

Oh… My… God. A professional athlete, who made most of his hundreds of millions of dollars boxing in Las Vegas, cheated on his wife?? I’ve never in my life heard something more shocking or horrific. I mean come on. He’s the Golden Boy. Ask any girl in the world (my girlfriend included) and she will tell you that he’s a very good looking man. Add in his millions, and you have a recipe for adultery. Let’s get over that one very quickly. If ugly poor guys cheat on their wives all the time, good looking rich guys must be swimming in it! Plus, in his own words, De La Hoya was “no Tiger Woods.” How great is it that Woods is now the measuring stick for degenerate athletes? By the way I in no way condone cheating on your wife or girlfriend (had to stick that in there).

3. Contemplating suicide

The guy was addicted to booze and coke and he had separated from his wife after cheating on her. He was probably pretty depressed, no? It’s not like he took the pills and survived, he just thought about it. He even admits that he didn’t have the strength or courage to take his own life.

4. Dressing up in lingerie

Hey man, sometimes when you’re all drunk and coked up, you do some crazy shit, like dressing up in lingerie and taking pictures which end up leaked to the internet. Although he originally denied this when the pictures hit the web in 2007, nobody really believed him, because it was pretty friggin’ obvious that it was him. The guy got paid to pound the faces of other men for a living. He was one of those “ultimate male” types. Those guys always have some latent homosexuality in them somewhere. Again, I wasn’t shocked, and it made all the more sense when his alcoholism and cocaine addiction came out later on. This is the weirdest of his admissions, but is it really that crazy or newsworthy? If anything I think its hilarious and I say good for Oscar for enjoying himself.

Why is all of this news?

Let’s face it, America. We love when people get brought down a peg. De La Hoya is “The Golden Boy.” His public persona was that of a stuck up pretty boy who rode his good looks to the top of the boxing world. Everything he touched turned to gold… a real success story. Like Tiger Woods before him, it was inevitable that something negative would come out about Oscar, and when it did, the media would jump all over it. Controversy equals ratings, people. We must learn that professional athletes are normal people, with normal vices and normal personal shortcomings. I happen to think that, beyond his recent problems, De La Hoya was one of the best and most recognized boxers of all time. He then retired and became one of the best business men in the sport. His is a real success story, and the last couple of years have just been a bump in the road. We should all leave him alone and hope that he continues his new found sobriety (3 months). If he does, the Oscar De La Hoya success story will continue until his death, at age 90, on top of his mountain made of gold.

Check out part of his Univisión Interview:

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