Diego De La Hoya Transforming From Prospect To Contender
Diego De La Hoya Transforming From Prospect To Contender
He’s not as famous as his older cousin Oscar, but Diego De La Hoya is making a name for himself each time he steps into a boxing ring.
By Kendrick Johnson
He’s not as famous as his older cousin Oscar, but Diego De La Hoya is making a name for himself each time he steps into a boxing ring.
Just 21 years-old, the “Golden Kid” had over 250 amateur bouts and was a Mexican National Olympics Silver Medalist before signing with Oscar’s Golden Boy Promotions a year ago.
In Friday’s main event of the Golden Boy Promotions LA Fight Club card, De La Hoya (13-0, 7 KOs) will fight for the first time this year when he meets former world-title contender Arturo Badillo. In the eyes of many boxing experts, the super-bantamweight prospect showed marked progress in 2015 by fighting six times and constantly improving in between fights.
“2016 will be as good of year for me, if not better, then 2015,” De La Hoya said. “Joel’s [Diaz] style matches really well with mine as far as training goes. He teaches counter punching, and I am counter puncher. He has a great stable of fighters that he works with, so this works out perfect for me.
Some thought the weight of living up to his family’s boxing lineage would be too much for young Diego, but he continues to prove critics wrong with each victory.
“There’s really no pressure because I know what I have to do come Fight Night and train hard. I understand that I am a target because of my name but that makes me work that much harder,” De La Hoya said.
As a main eventer on Friday night’s card, De La Hoya is playing a big role this weekend which is intended to showcase how Golden Boy’s stable is being replenished from the losses of champion’s like heavyweight Deontay Wilder, welterweight Keith Thurman and featherweight Leo Santa Cruz who defected to Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champion last year.
Fortunately for De La Hoya, his rise to championship stardom is being guided by legendary boxing trainer Joel Diaz who knows a thing or two about making champions. Diaz currently trains Omar Figueroa, Ruslan Provodnikov and Abner Mares who are all current or former champions along with playing a big role in the early career success of former WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley.
In Diaz’s eyes, De La Hoya is right on track towards joining his other boxers in the champions club.
“Diego is a kid who has been coming up in the ranks because of his activity, he’s been active he’s been fighting constantly,” Diaz said. “He’s been progressing as you can see every time he fights you can see a big improvement in him. It’s great to see that his promoter is trying to bring him up to a world championship level and activity means everything and that what he needs and that’s what he’s getting.”
He’s not as famous as his older cousin Oscar, but Diego De La Hoya is making a name for himself each time he steps into a boxing ring.
Just 21 years-old, the “Golden Kid” had over 250 amateur bouts and was a Mexican National Olympics Silver Medalist before signing with Oscar’s Golden Boy Promotions a year ago.
In Friday’s main event of the Golden Boy Promotions LA Fight Club card, De La Hoya (13-0, 7 KOs) will fight for the first time this year when he meets former world-title contender Arturo Badillo. In the eyes of many boxing experts, the super-bantamweight prospect showed marked progress in 2015 by fighting six times and constantly improving in between fights.
“2016 will be as good of year for me, if not better, then 2015,” De La Hoya said. “Joel’s [Diaz] style matches really well with mine as far as training goes. He teaches counter punching, and I am counter puncher. He has a great stable of fighters that he works with, so this works out perfect for me.
Some thought the weight of living up to his family’s boxing lineage would be too much for young Diego, but he continues to prove critics wrong with each victory.
“There’s really no pressure because I know what I have to do come Fight Night and train hard. I understand that I am a target because of my name but that makes me work that much harder,” De La Hoya said.
As a main eventer on Friday night’s card, De La Hoya is playing a big role this weekend which is intended to showcase how Golden Boy’s stable is being replenished from the losses of champion’s like heavyweight Deontay Wilder, welterweight Keith Thurman and featherweight Leo Santa Cruz who defected to Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champion last year.
Fortunately for De La Hoya, his rise to championship stardom is being guided by legendary boxing trainer Joel Diaz who knows a thing or two about making champions. Diaz currently trains Omar Figueroa, Ruslan Provodnikov and Abner Mares who are all current or former champions along with playing a big role in the early career success of former WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley.
In Diaz’s eyes, De La Hoya is right on track towards joining his other boxers in the champions club.
“Diego is a kid who has been coming up in the ranks because of his activity, he’s been active he’s been fighting constantly,” Diaz said. “He’s been progressing as you can see every time he fights you can see a big improvement in him. It’s great to see that his promoter is trying to bring him up to a world championship level and activity means everything and that what he needs and that’s what he’s getting.”