After his destruction of Rafael Ruelas on May 6, 1995, Oscar returned to the ring four months later to face Genaro Hernandez. In a bout dubbed ‘The Rivals’, De La Hoya was facing a far superior boxer in Hernandez than Ruelas was. When my brother came over my house on September 9 to watch the […]

After winning the fringe WBO title against Jimmy Bredahl on March 5, 1994, Oscar returned to the ring on May 27 at the MGM Grand vs. Giorgio Campanella, and stopped him in the third round. Two months later he moved up to the lightweight division, and took on veteran Jorge Paez back at the MGM

Oscar De La Hoya was born on February 4, 1973 in East Los Angeles, California. He had a very successful amateur career, which saw him win the Junior Olympics at age 15. In 1989, he won that National Golden Gloves title as a bantamweight, and a year later captured the U.S. National Championship at featherweight.

After the trip out to Vegas on January 12 to try and bet on Roy Jones, I went back home to snowy New Jersey to contemplate my next move. I had noticed when I was in Vegas, that Kevin Kelley was fighting Louie Espinosa on Friday, February 2 at the Boulder Station Casino Hotel. The

As the year 1995 came to a close, my dreams that began in March, had wound up in a trash heap. To say I was in a bad frame of mind, was to put it mildly. I had concocted some kind of plan to try to win money on a month to month basis in

After the disastrous trip in November to see Evander get knocked out by Riddick Bowe, I limped home broke and downtrodden. I tried my best to enjoy Thanksgiving day, but it was difficult. With my favorite time of year being Christmas, I had to change my attitude, since there was nothing I could do about

After the refreshing weekend in Vegas with my mom in mid-September, I came home with my four grand, and tried to concentrate on my lawn service as best as I could. It wasn’t easy, but I tried to find a fight to look forward to, in order to keep myself from going nuts. Roy Jones

After the horrible Labor Day weekend with the McCall loss, I went home and after a few days off, went back to work with my lawn service. I was comatose with disappointment every day, and replayed the stupid choices I had made in my mind, over and over again, like a broken record album. It

After the $8,500 or so payday from the Tyson win, I felt re-energized, and made plans to fly out to Vegas on Friday night, September 1, 1995. After taking a cab to the Flamingo Hilton on the strip for a 2 am check-in, I got into bed and went to sleep. When I awoke on

As July of 1995 turned to August, I had come up with a new plan to try and still bail myself out of debt. There would be no room for error however, and the wagers I would make would include over-under bets, far more risky, but necessary. First things first meant booking a flight to