LOS ANGELES -- Boxing great Oscar de la Hoya who announced his retirement Tuesday at the Nokia Plaza, a stone's throw away from his bronze statue at the Staples Center in downtown LA, will have a reunion of the past champions he had met in the ring throughout his career, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer informed the media during the tailend of emotional press conference.
The date will be on Sep. 19 during the Mexican independence weekend celebrations.
The gathering will be a veritable gala of boxing stars who during their heydays dominated the boxing headlines in the past two decades. De La Hoya (39-6-0) took on all comers to amass a record 10 titles in six different weight divisions.
De La Hoya entered into the American public consciousness after he won a gold medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He turned professional in November of that year and later was involved in high profile and memorable fights against an array of boxing stars including Genaro Hernandez, Jesse James Leija, Julio Cesar Chavez, Pernell Whitaker, Hector Camacho, Ike Quartey, Felix Trinidad, Shane Mosley, Arturo Gatti, Javier Castillejo, Fernando Vargas, Luis Ramon Campas, Bernard Hopkins, Ricardo Mayorga, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
De La Hoya became boxing's golden boy and its cash machine registering the top grossing PPV event in history en route to a total 14.1 million PPV buys and $696 million gross revenue in 19 PPV appearances.
De La Hoya, 36, said his retirement from the ring was expedited after he was soundly defeated in a one-sided beatdown by Filipino superstar and current pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao last Dec. 6 in Las Vegas.
Schaefer promised that the Sep. 19 gathering of boxing stars will be one of a kind and an event to remember.
Top photo: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schafer (L) comforts Oscar de la Hoya during Tuesday's press conference in Los Angeles where De La Hoya announced his retirement.
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