The Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya, has a simple formula for matriculating from Olympic boxer to professional superstar.
A compelling back story and a gold medal.
Piece of cake, right? There?s no shortage of amazing back stories in the sport, but the gold medal part? Not so much.
The U.S. has not had a boxing gold medalist since Andre Ward in 2004 in Athens. Ward, an undefeated light-heavyweight who will fight in the biggest bout of his career on Nov. 19 against undefeated Russian champion Sergey Kovalev, had one of the two elements, and just recently began to open up about his life story, which it turns out is quite compelling.
De La Hoya knows firsthand what it takes. In 1992 in Barcelona, the 19-year-old had recently lost his mother to cancer and was fighting for her. He won the gold medal and the hearts of people around the planet, sports fans or not.
?The whole world was rooting for me because my mother passed away with breast cancer early in 1991, so I was fighting for her,? De La Hoya told USA TODAY Sports. ?America wants to fall in love with these athletes. They just need to grab onto something and run with it. I?m sure these kids are motivated. It?s their one shot to shine and I?m sure they?re more than motivated to bring back some gold for us.?
If they can accomplish that feat, De La Hoya and his Golden Boy Promotions will find them.
?Nowadays if you really want to create a superstar, what it?s going to take is bringing back a gold medal. Whoever brings back gold we?re going to pursue,? De La Hoya said. ?There are fighters out there who don?t place, are beaten in the first, second or third rounds of competition that still can become great professional fighters. But I think a fighter we have our eye on is anyone who can bring back a gold medal.?
De La Hoya has been outspoken against allowing professional boxers to compete in the Olympics, but does understand that the rule change that allows pro-style scoring has been good for the U.S. team.
?Most of the U.S. fighters have that pro style where they work the body consistently,? De La Hoya said. ?The head coach, who used to be a fighter himself, understands you must go to the body and therefore the guard comes down and you can accumulate more points in the last round. So I think we have a pretty good shot at bringing back some medals this year.?
Olympian light flyweight Nico Hernandez missed a shot at gold after losing his semifinal match on Friday. He lost because he did not do as much body work as was necessary. But he became the first U.S. fighter to win a bronze medal since Deontay Wilder in 2008.
Golden Boy has a fighter in its stable who brought home no hardware from London, but is on his way to stardom. Joseph ?Jo-Jo? Diaz Jr. is 23, undefeated and maybe 6-7 months from fighting for a featherweight title. De La Hoya is bullish on his young, rising star, who grew up poor and took up boxing to avoid being drawn into a gang and from being bullied.
?Jo-Jo has the whole package,? De La Hoya said. ?He?s got the good looks, he?s well spoken, clean-cut and he?s right on track to winning his first world title as planned, hopefully the first quarter of next year he can be challenging for a world title.?
?I love his progress. He understands it takes time. And you?re as good as your last fight. Meaning that if he shows his team and myself that he?s ready for a world title, we can throw him into a world title fight. But there?s a plan, a strategy behind every move we make and we?re inching closer to a world title. There?s no rush for him, he understands what it takes and I think right now it?s a perfect moment for him to really come out and make a splash in the pro ranks.?
