Sports are full of stories where athletes overcome personal tragedies and use that to propel them to the top of their respective crafts. When Oscar De La Hoya won the gold medal for boxing in the lightweight division during the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, he dedicated it to his late mother, Cecilla (unfortunately, she passed away from cancer in 1990). When De La Hoya returned to the United States, he was the pride of East LA with a heartwarming story to boast. As we find out in his own words during the two-part HBO documentary, The Golden Boy, that moment he stated about his mother being on her deathbed wanting him to win as her dying wish didn’t happen. In fact, De La Hoya didn’t get to see his mother in the hospital before she passed away – a situation he expressed regret throughout the many confessionals in the runtime.
Director Fernando Villena’s look into the former boxer’s life can be summarized with one word – complicated. There is the Oscar De La Hoya, who has achieved unbridled success during his boxing career – winning 11 titles in six different weight classes, starting Golden Boy Promotions, and using his status to bring non-boxing fans into the sport. Then we have the man that speaks into the camera in a black and white picture, declaring, “The last 45 years have been pretty dark.” We’re talking about fighting alcoholism, multiple accusations of sexual assault, a fractured relationship with his children, infidelities, and a difficult upbringing.
The Golden Boy looks to tell the complete story of the person behind the smiles and the lethal left hook to 31 wins until his first loss. But listening to De La Hoya, boxing released some physical abuse he experienced as a child. Specifically, he tells a story about when he was younger and almost got hit by a car retrieving a ball. Instead of his mother comforting him, she beat him. There was also a time when a teacher laughed at his career aspirations of wanting to be a boxing champion. This seems to be one of many impressionable instances that still haunt De La Hoya. When interviewing his father, Joel De La Hoya Sr., he states that the Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez would have beaten his son if they were the same age.
Despite the doubt of his abilities, the hard work fueled Oscar to take on challenges like Felix Trinidad, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and move up a weight class to fight Bernard Hopkins. It’s also void of emotional sustenance and tunnel vision that precluded many of De La Hoya’s missteps. The Golden Boy doesn’t make excuses for De La Hoya’s behavior – his brother, sister, ex-wife Shauna Moakler, and children all state their accounts of his ongoing issues and how they have negatively impacted their lives. Often, these styles of documentaries peer into the lives of their subjects with a fond, soft lens, and to Villena’s credit, he does not.
No subject seems out of bounds, including De La Hoya’s 2007 cross-dressing controversy, where he stated they were digitally altered (he later came clean about them in a 2011 interview with Univision). Within the tumultuous periods of De La Hoya’s life, there’s the societal context of how he was allowed to get away with so much. His good looks, riches, and overall star power allowed him to skate through untouched in the public eye. However, as we look at De La Hoya in the present day, he’s a man that’s full of regret and a lot of emotional baggage to untangle – some of that he’s placed onto those he loves the most.
The documentary shows highlights from various fights in his career where he stood tall at the moment, but towards the end of De La Hoya’s career, the light in his eyes started to dim. Coupled with an aversion to finding out what life is after putting the gloves down, he describes himself as a person who would instead run from issues than face them head-on. It starkly contrasts his career inside the ring, and The Golden Boy doesn’t end on an exceptionally high note. You can only hope that De La Hoya begins confronting the things and supposed behaviors keeping him away from clarity after the cameras stop.
