De La Hoya shaken by deaths

Oscar De La Hoya had strong connections to all three fighters who died tragically over the past few weeks.

Vernon Forrest was his 1992 Olympic teammate. He fought Arturo Gatti. And Alexis Arguello was one of his idols. Their passing has affected him deeply.

“It’s sad, it really is,” De La Hoya said, “that it had to happen to such great fighters who were also such good people outside the ring. It’s scary at the same time. You ask yourself, ‘What’s going on? Why is this happening to these fighters, to good people?’

“I goes to show you: We’re nobody in this world. We’re like a grain of sand. It’s sad.”

De La Hoya had the same thought as many others: Fighters who live fast lives are more likely to die young. Several of those who knew Gatti well, for example, said they were devastated but not shocked.

It’s common knowledge that De La Hoya himself gambled too much early in his career and he partied some too.

“Fighters live fast-paced lives,” he said. “It’s non-stop sometimes. We tend to do everything with no speed limit, no matter what it is. I’m not saying that contributed to the passing of these fighters but it might’ve had something to do with it.

“We gotta slow down; everybody has to slow down. And I’m not just talking about fighters.”

De La Hoya smiles when he thinks about the time he spent with Forrest in the months leading up to the Barcelona Games and at the Olympics.

The nation’s top amateur fighters work hard but they find time to have fun too.

“He was such a good guy,” De La Hoya said. “I remember we used to always play craps, dice, in our dormitory rooms when we traveled with the Olympic team. He was the one who always won, always. I remember staying up late nights with Vernon. I’m talking 3, 4, 5 in the morning. We’d have to wake up at 6 to run. Sometimes we wouldn’t’ even sleep.

“We’d finish playing dice, get dressed and go running. And Vernon would always finish the run first or at least be a leader of the pack. He was a hard worker. He always said he didn’t care how long it took, he was going to be a world champion. That’s who he was, very persistent, a dedicated fighter.

“And he was really, really a genuinely good person. I always admired that about him.”

De La Hoya didn’t have much trouble when he fought Gatti, stopping him in five rounds in 2001. The Golden Boy was too big and too good for Thunder.

However, De La Hoya was impressed by at least one thing.

“He had to be the guy who hit me the hardest up in the ring. He had the heaviest hands I ever felt,” he said.

A lot of Gatti’s knockout victims would agree.

And De La Hoya’s feelings about Arguello aren’t complicated. The Nicaraguan was an icon when De La Hoya was growing up.

“Arguello was my hero in boxing,” he said. “It really is sad. Scary, unfortunate and sad. It really hits home.”

Michael Rosenthal can be reached at RingTVeditor@yahoo.com