Fighting, Brains and a legend

Fighting, brains and a legend.

I am in Hawaii, a beautiful island about 5 hours from California by plane. I am here working but I will definitely try to do some rest and relaxation somehow.

On Saturday, one of the most important and successful figures in sports took a beating in the hands of Manny Pacquiao, the Pac Man, from the Philippines.

I have followed Oscar’s boxing career ever since he won the gold medal in the 1992 Olympics held in Barcelona. I will never forget his face when he stood at the podium and the Star Spangled Banner was played. To him, this medal was very special since he dedicated it to his mother who had passed away and was not present to see his son win the medal. In that particular Olympics, he was the only fighter from the US to win a gold medal.

Sixteen years have gone by and this phenomenal athlete has won ten world titles in six different weight divisions. His life has been like a roller coaster, winning most fights, but losing some very important ones, five to be exact and now we add his last loss and it is six.
When he fought Bernard Hopkins, he lost by knockout. He fought Shane Mosley and he lost twice, however, at least in one of those fights, Mosley accepted having taken a steroid, EPO and if that had been known at the time, he would have been disqualified. Said in other words, Mosley cheated and got away with it. They interviewed Oscar and he said to let it go, it was a long time ago and besides, he has a partnership with Mosley now and he doesn’t want to stir things up. Maybe that fight will have an asterisk next to it, just like the baseball players that have records but that took steroids to help them get the records.
He lost with Floyd Mayweather and he wanted to fight him again but Floyd decided to call it quits and Oscar wasn’t able to avenge his loss.
He loses against our own Tito Trinidad even though most people saw him win the fight. It seems that following the strategy dictated by his corner, when he was way ahead in the fight, the last four rounds to be exact, he coasted, in fact, sometimes ran, and Tito was chasing him all over the ring. Even though he really had won the fight, the judges penalized him and awarded the fight to Tito. This could have been a way to send a message to every boxer that even though you are ahead, you can’t run at the end and still win the fight. You have to slug it out until the end or you lose.
Tito Trinidad deserves a lot of credit because he never gave up and chased him all over the ring trying to fight the guy.
This last fight against the Philippine, at 35 years of age, clearly with declining faculties, he steps into the ring with the best fighter, pound for pound, in the whole world.
I told some friends before the fight that watching him being interviewed; I could tell he knew he was going to lose. He just didn’t have the fire in his eyes and he wasn’t aggressive or persuasive enough during the interviews. He knew what was coming, but business is business. There were many millions of dollars involved and to take a beating for eight rounds, it isn’t too bad at all.
This fight was not a balanced fight. Oscar simply was not a match for the speed and stamina of this young fighter. Oscar at 29 might have been a different story, who knows, but not at 35. When his trainer, Nacho Beristain, who has a very similar name to my second last name, Beguiristain, threw the towel right before starting the ninth round, it was over for Oscar de la Hoya, possibly the last fight of his illustrious career.

A legend has come to an end in the world of boxing but the legend continues in the world of business. If he is not already, he will soon become the most financially successful fighter in the history of boxing.

The man is money making machine. He reinvented himself and turned himself into a shrewd, smart businessman. He had good fortune of marrying a beautiful, Puerto Rican actress, Millie Corretger, and they have had a very successful marriage, at least until now.
Last week I visited a beautiful project west of San Juan and I was shown the lots he and his wife bought to build a beautiful house.

His company, Golden Boy Promotions, is now representing a bunch of very promising prospects with the hope that they will become world champions and make a lot of money for themselves and for Oscar.

He established the Oscar de la Hoya Foundation which maintains a high school in Los Angeles, a Children’s Hospital and a Cancer treatment center build in honor of his mother who died of cancer when Oscar was only 16 years old.

By all standards, except for some sports, Oscar is still a young man and he will have the opportunity in the future to be of great help to others in the sports and business world. It is obvious that he has a golden heart and that he will use at least part of his money to help others.

A great writer once said that to be a total man, you had to write a book, plant a tree and have a son. Oscar has kids and he has written a book, I don’t know if he has planted a tree yet.

I haven’t read his book, but I am sure that it has lots of good advice from someone that has been at the highest echelon of a sport and who has lost the position several times. In life, defeat is what really forms our character and depending on how you handle defeat, it will destroy you or make you stronger. In Oscar’s case it has made him stronger and he will certainly retire with a business, lots of money and a plan for the future.

How many boxers, not only here in Puerto Rico, but all over the world, have won championships, made a lot of money, and those still alive are broke, and those that already died, died very poor? There is not enough space in this article to enumerate them all. They ate all their marshmallows and saved none. Very sad indeed

With the World recession we are going through right now, who are the ones in the best position to not weather the storm, but to come out ahead?
The people that have prepared for it and have money saved up, in other words, they are liquid and they don’t owe a lot of money. Cash is king in today’s economic environment.

Bad times and good times are a part of history, it can’t be avoided. Things can’t possibly be always good. What you do have, is the choice of how to face hardship and what to do about it. That my friend is the biggest blessing of all.