Hernández: Oscar De La Hoya is back on the defensive following latest sex scandal

Oscar De La Hoya nodded as he was requested in regards to the sexual assault allegations made in opposition to him final week.

“Look, I’m right here,” he mentioned. “I’ve nothing to cover.”

The previous boxing champion eliminated his sun shades, revealing stitches on his decrease eyelids from a latest beauty process.

“I really simply bought surgical procedure, so, as you already know, I needs to be staying at dwelling,” De La Hoya mentioned. “However I’ve to maintain younger for my girlfriend.”

He joked that his girlfriend is keen on Gilberto Ramirez, the good-looking light-heavyweight contender whose upcoming struggle he’s selling.

De La Hoya returned to the topic of the query.

“However I can’t touch upon it now,” he mentioned.

What a darkish flip this fairy story has taken.

De La Hoya was the Golden Boy, his story the East L.A. model of the American Dream.

He was positioned to be a Mexican American Magic Johnson, a beloved Los Angeles athlete who in retirement grew to become a revered entrepreneur.

As a substitute, at 49, De La Hoya is a spectacle.

He grew to become the topic of one other scandal final week when he was accused of two cases of sexual assault in a countersuit filed by a lady in opposition to him and his tequila firm.

The corporate, Casa Mexico, filed a civil lawsuit in December in opposition to the girl and one other former govt, accusing them of breach of fiduciary obligation and breach of contract.

De La Hoya denied the sexual assault allegations in a press release launched by his boxing promotions firm.

This column isn’t the place to litigate the accusations made by both facet. The courts will determine who did what.

Nevertheless, what’s past dispute is how De La Hoya’s out-of-the-ring fame has been formed by a sequence of scandals.

De La Hoya was accused of raping a 15-year-old lady in a Cabo San Lucas resort room in 1996. The ensuing lawsuit was settled out of court docket.

A San Bernardino lady filed a lawsuit in opposition to him in 2019, claiming he sexually assaulted her two years earlier. The case was dismissed in 2020; the court docket docket didn’t point out whether or not a settlement was reached.

De La Hoya was arrested in 2017 for suspicion of driving drunk. De La Hoya failed area sobriety checks however the prices have been later dropped.

His issues with medication and alcohol are effectively documented.

He has nonetheless loved a measure of success within the boardroom. His choice as an lively fighter to interrupt with promoter Bob Arum and take higher management of his profession grew to become a roadmap adopted by the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Canelo Álvarez. He bought a controlling share of a downtown Los Angeles workplace constructing during which his promotions firm is headquartered.

However these achievements have been overshadowed by the picture of De La Hoya as dysfunctional, somebody with credibility issues who will say no matter he has to to appeal his viewers.

Which is a disgrace, contemplating the chance that was offered to him.

De La Hoya was in the appropriate place on the proper time. By the point he received an Olympic gold medal in 1992, Fernando Valenzuela’s followers have been having youngsters. These youngsters have been multicultural and sometimes multilingual. They noticed part of themselves in De La Hoya.

Handsome, well-spoken and nonthreatening on the floor, De La Hoya additionally was accepted by white individuals in a manner that, say, Fernando Vargas by no means might be. De La Hoya had an opportunity to be greater than a fighter, and for some time, he was.

He may have been a permanent supply of delight for a once-marginalized group, a logo of success in a number of fields.

Now, at greatest, he’s somebody who’s considered with pity; at worst, with derision.

Possibly there’s one thing in him that’s damaged and may’t be fastened. He spoke within the fall about how he was sexually abused, how he misplaced his virginity to a lady in her late 30s when he was 13.

De La Hoya received’t find yourself like Los Angeles boxing legends of earlier eras, comparable to Mando Ramos and Bobby Chacon. His wealth protects him from that form of tragedy. However De La Hoya isn’t Magic Johnson, both. His tragedy is of one other selection.