Oscar de la Hoya's confession about JC Chavez: “He was my hero”

It was two fights that both former boxers starred in at the end of the nineties. And in both matches, the Golden Boy took the victory

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In Oscar de la Hoya's career as a professional boxer he starred in different pitched battles, but one of his most remembered episodes among Mexican boxing fans is the duel he held against Julio Cesar Chavez. In a rivalry that gave away two fights, the Golden Boy managed to overcome the great Mexican champion and defeated him twice.

Despite the years that have passed since that September 1998, when De la Hoya defeated Chavez for the second time, the former Mexican-American boxer recently confessed the admiration he had for Julio Cesar at the time and that he still retains today.

In an interview for the podcast Un Round Más by Erik Terrible Morales, the current boxing promoter came clean and admitted that before fighting with Chávez González he considered him his hero, because he got to see him fight, so he recognized the talent that Mr. Knockout had with his fists and gloves.

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Even before Julio Cesar Chavez's first fight against Oscar de la Hoya was agreed, the 1992 Barcelona Olympic medallist had the Sonoran boxer as an “idol”, so he never imagined that he could compete against him. This is what he said on the Terrible Morales YouTube channel:

But once he became a professional boxer and was given the opportunity to challenge Chávez for the superlight title of the WBC (World Boxing Council), he did not hesitate for a moment to agree on the match. He recalled how it is that the promoters approached him and asked him about the possibility of getting into the ring against the great Mexican champion.

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He took up his profession as a boxer and accepted the challenge. Although he regarded him as his idol in the discipline of fists and gloves, he bet on going against him to star in a memorable contest for Mexican boxing.

“When Bob said to me, 'Look, you have the opportunity to fight Chavez', then pray to him, it's my job. How much are you going to pay me? and let's see, it's my career,” said Oscar de la Hoya.

Because he knew Chávez's technique and had already faced him in a fight without a title in between, Oscar de la Hoya's only concern was JC Chavez's right fist, because he knew that if he hit him with it, it would represent a strong blow and compromise the Golden Boy's sanity.

But, despite the relevance of the match, the current promoter confessed that at that time in his career he felt “invincible” and that he didn't know how he beat Julius Caesar.

I thought about his right because he was heavy, he was heavy and I thought about it, but I, nobody beat me that night. I was invincible; sometimes I try to remember the fight, what happened, what happened and I can't because it was like a dream, very strange, but I was well prepared,” he added.

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