By Dave Wilcox

Just as one might do when going to Alcoholics Anonymous, I’m ready to face my problem head on and come clean about my addiction. Go ahead and call me a homer, or if you prefer, you can refer to me as my least favorite internet catch phrase “nuthugger”. I just don’t care anymore. I must say that I love Oscar De La Hoya! Don’t get excited homo-phobes, I mean in the Boxing fan sense. Although I will say that I did enjoy Brokeback Mountain more than I care to admit.

Oscar De La Hoya takes a lot of heat from fans and media about his “Golden Boy” image. People are quick to point out his good looks, his less than manly voice and of course the Latin Grammy awards. I have also questioned some of his past endeavors. Who could forget those stretch pants in his music video? Those were unfortunate to say the least.

I’m from Southern California, so maybe that’s why I like him so much. I don’t know for sure, but what I do know is that Oscar De La Hoya is my freaking hero. Look at him! Women love him, he has more money than God and he is in the process of taking over the promotional world after his fighting days are past. Of course we can’t forget his lovely wife and beautiful family.

I think the bottom line is that people are jealous of Oscar. I know I am. The guy plays this “Golden Boy” image like a drum. He talks real soft and says the right things to the media. No wonder everyone wants to bring him down. It gets old to see a guy be so close to perfect. Even when he loses a fight, he turns the lemon to lemonade. After losing to Hopkins, you would have thought most guys would seek a rematch to save face. Not Oscar, he is much too smart for that. He went into business with Hopkins instead. Not a bad move, millions of dollars instead of being knocked out again?

What the hell, Shane Mosley has Oscar’s number, maybe he should have gone after a third bout with Mosley? Not Oscar, that would be another dumb move. Instead he signs him to Golden Boy and makes big bucks with him. At the same time he gets to torture Fernando Vargas by making him think that he might get a shot at De La Hoya. Of course we know that will never happen. After the disrespect and immaturity that Fernando showed towards Oscar leading up to their first fight, I doubt Oscar would ever give him another shot. I think he’ll let Fernando live with that devastating loss.

Oscar De La Hoya the boxer might never be considered an All-Time pound for pound great, nor do I think he deserves that high of praise for his Boxing abilities. What I do think Oscar deserves is credit for keeping Boxing in the mainstream media. Without the train wreck that was Mike Tyson, there was really nobody outside of the die-hard Boxing fans who even paid attention to Boxing anymore. Oscar De La Hoya transcends Boxing.

He is a guy that can be compared to the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard and Muhammad Ali as far as what they meant to their generation. Oscar is Boxing right now. I can tell you that he is the only fighter that gets me to shell out my Pay-Per View dollars without regret. Oscar is more than a fighter, he is an event.

As far as his accomplishments in the ring, he really can’t be questioned. He might not have won all the big fights, but at least he fought everyone. Former champs like Felix Trinidad, Shane Mosley, Pernell Whitaker, Rafeal Ruelas and most recently Ricardo Mayorga are not chopped liver. In all, he has fought over 16 former champs and beat most of them.

I would argue that the only fights he really lost were against Bernard Hopkins, and Shane Mosley in their first encounter. I will admit that the Whitaker fight could have been scored either way and Felix Sturm could have easily gotten the nod. So he was on both sides of questionable decisions. That’s Boxing my friends.

What usually isn’t mentioned when talking about De La Hoya is what a tough son of a gun he really is. Oscar is very much underrated for his grit. You don’t fight since the age of eight and grow up in East Los Angeles without getting tough. He also has one of the better chins we have seen in boxing in the last decade. He might have the tendency to get tired in the late rounds, but his chin never fails him. He has a burning desire to be great and be known as a “Super Champion”. Beating Hopkins at Middleweight would have accomplished this for him, but unfortunately he failed.

In reality he is much too small to be a Middleweight, so no harm to the legacy there. He has one last chance at Boxing greatness when he inevitably fights Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in 2007. Don’t let the “I can’t train Oscar to beat my own flesh and blood” routine fool you. I can of about forty million reasons why Sr. will be in Oscar’s corner that fateful night in Las Vegas.

The fight itself between De La Hoya and Mayweather is not a blow out like some would suggest. Floyd is great for sure, but please understand that Oscar is very powerful at that weight and can box with the best of them. I would of course give the speed advantage to “Pretty Boy”, but power, chin and experience must go to Oscar. What happens when Oscar lands the big left hook? Can Mayweather take it? That is a very intriguing question and this will be a “Superfight” to say the least. This one will be on the same marketing level of a Leonard-Hearns fight. It will be great for our beloved sport.

I’ll go out on a limb here and say not only is Oscar De La Hoya “more than a pretty boy”, but he will beat one in the ring and finally be able to ride into the sunset with his coveted “Super Champion” label that he has chased for years.

Random thoughts

-My apologies to Bernard Hopkins. I wasn’t a believer and he proved me wrong. What a glorious victory for the great Hopkins and what a pathetic effort by Mason Dixon aka Antonio Tarver. After seeing that, I’m putting my money on Rocky Balboa by knockout.

-Winky Wright should stop his belly-aching and sign for the rematch with Taylor. I scored the fight for Wright, but it was close and the rounds were hard to score. His claims of robbery are way off base.

-Roy Jones is making me forget how embarrassing Evander Holyfield has become.

-Calvin Brock might be America's only hope as he takes another step towards a title shot when he fights on HBO against Timur Ibragimov. Two undefeated Heavyweights is always a good thing. Brock is very green, but he has what every Heavyweight fan likes, Knockout power with the right hand.