Oscar De La Hoya was six years old when he first began to box. "My brother, Joel Jr., put a pair on me and the other pair on one of my cousins," Oscar recalled. " Then he yelled 'Time!' immediately, I covered my cheeks with the gloves." "The next thing I knew — wham — the first punch is a left jab that goes between my gloves and lands smack on my nose!" Oscar De La Hoya ran home, crying every step of the way.De La Hoya never pictured himself becoming a fighter. He was always found in the park playing baseball with the other kids. It was actually his older brother Joel Jr. who many believed had the potential to become a great fighter.Joel Jr. never pictured his younger brother as a fighter. "Oscar hated physical confrontations, he never had a street fight. He preferred to play with skateboards near the house and baseball in the park. Nothing violent." But boxing is in the De La Hoya tradition and blood.  It goes back several generations when his grandfather, Vicente, a 126-pound amateur in the 1940s, and his father Joel, Sr., who fought as a lightweight in the professional ranks in the mid-1960s.Oscar was being pushed to go to the gym and learn to defend himself.  He started going to the Eastside Boxing Gym in East L.A and began training and remembers that "every time I won a fight, my cousins, aunts and uncles would give me money. A dollar here, a quarter there, half a buck."  It was there that this future world champion began his road to stardom. Oscar's first true test was at the 1992 Olympics. He waited anxiously and prepared his entire life for that moment. He promised his ailing mother, Cecilia, that he would bring back home the gold medal. There was no question in his mind that he would win it. He was going to win it for his mother! The road to the gold medal bout was not an easy one. As the Olympic tournament began he disposed of his first three opponents - knocking out the first. Then in his first medal round match, what should have been an easy victory became a close controversial decision. De La Hoya struggled against his opponent’s awkward bull-rushing style, but Oscar would not be denied as he emerged with a tight one-point victory. On June 5, 2004, Oscar De La Hoya went after his sixth world title in another weight class -- the Middleweight Division. His opponent was Felix Sturm, an undefeated boxer from Germany who was unknown in the United States. Sturm was the aggressor all night, nailing De La Hoya with left jabs. In the final rounds, De La Hoya managed to out-box his opponent to win the WBO middleweight title by unanimous decision.The table were now set for a showdown with the undisputed middleweight champion (160 pounds), Bernard Hopkins.De La Hoya, who has stated to fight only the best fighters in boxing, lived up to his words when he fought Bernard Hopkins on September 17, 2004. De La Hoya fought valiantly for 8 rounds against Hopkins, but fell to the ground and couldn't recover from a devastating left hook to the rib cage in the ninth round."He caught me with a perfect punch." said a disappointed De La Hoya. "I tried to get up, but I couldn't. I had the wind taken out of me."De La Hoya has plans to continue fighting, but at the lower weight class of 154 or 147 pounds.Despite a few losses in his boxing career, Oscar De La Hoya continues to be on top of the welterweight division and is still regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Oscar's pleasant personality and good looks has made him one of the most recognized and likable athletes in the world today.