The Golden Boy film review: All That Glitters Is Not Always Golden

On Monday, July 24 (9:00 p.m. ET/PT) HBO will air part one of the original two-part documentary “The Golden Boy” that will tell the story of one of boxing’s most successful and most popular fighters, Oscar de la Hoya. 

The film is directed by award-winning filmmaker Fernando Villena (“Dear Rider” and “Any One of Us”) who spent a year interviewing Oscar while capturing and retelling his story through his own words. Part two will air the following night at the same time.  Both episodes will be available to stream on HBOMAX.

In my opinion, an entertaining documentary relies mainly on the appeal and charisma of the subject.  One doesn’t always need to agree with or even like the subject matter but rather is the story being told interesting enough to keep one’s attention, and more importantly, make the viewer care.   The camera has been kind to

Oscar ever since he burst onto the scene by winning a boxing gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics.   In those days, it was common for an American boxer to bring home gold.  However, mix in matinee idol looks along with an inspiring story and Oscar would find himself being welcomed into America’s living rooms and being as universally loved as few other gold medalists ranging from“Sugar” Ray Leonard to Mary Lou Retton.

Each episode runs just under 80 minutes in length, as the now 50 year old de la Hoya shares his story from the age of 6 until the present day.  

Villena is a skilled storyteller.  The pacing of the film never lags, and he masterfully mixes in images of Oscar’s rise (in color with a golden tint) and his flawed present-day version (shot it black and white). 

As the credits rolled following episode two I was able to definitively say that I was entertained.  Do I care about him now that he no longer boxes… I’m not sure. 

The movie trailer ends with Oscar asking,“Who the fuck am I?” 

After living a lie for forty-five years, I find it impossible for anyone including himself to know for sure.

Episode 1: (Four stars out of Four)

The movie begins at the same point where Oscar’s story began, at the gold medal match at the Barcelona Olympic Games.  Oscar’s victory sets off a whirlwind that takes a shy boy from East Los Angeles to a seat next to Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show” where he charmingly shares his story of his visit to the White House.  Oscar admits to how surreal it was when he realized that he was seated upon the he same throne shared by President George H.W. Bush.

He arrived home to a hero’s welcome.  He was now suddenly recognized wherever he went, and his gold medal was ever present.  He was in the deep end of the pool infested with boxing sharks looking to manage and/or promote him.  He was literally a golden ticket and everyone wanted their share.

Oscar now felt the pressure of choosing the best career path for not only himself, but also his family that groomed him to be their meal ticket.  He was their Mexican-American dream.

His journey began in the streets of East Los Angeles, where as a child he would wake up at 4am so that he could get in his roadwork before school.   His days began with the hopes of avoiding  the attention of the gang members that had yet to go to sleep.   Oscar shares a particular morning when he had to climb onto a cemetery fence to avoid being attacked by a pack of stray dogs.

We learn the details of the physical and mental abuse he absorbed as a child.  He grew up in a family that could often be described as cold, at best.   He explains how he could open up to a stranger that would show interest in him, but he was never able to speak to anyone in his family.  His father was a strict, proud, and very religious man who was unwilling or unable to ever show his approval. Present day, Joel Sr. still shows the ability to land a pin-point jab when he shares his thoughts on his son’s victory over Mexican icon, Julio Cesar Chavez.

Oscar wanted nothing more than to be close to his mother Cecilia.   She was a Mexican immigrant that came to America with dreams of becoming a singer.   Oscar speaks glowingly about hearing her angelic voice from the streets whenever he would return home.   Her voice was muted when she received an ultimatum to either pursue a singing career or becoming a wife and mother.

She chose the latter, and her dreams of performing on stage became the reality of laboring in a zipper factory. 

Oscar sums up his mother’s fate as, “So much for the American Dream”.

Oscar has always been a natural at playing his golden role in front of a camera, but he is unable to hide the pain he still feels when he speaks of the abuse he absorbed from his mother.   He never saw her hit his siblings, yet he was constantly beaten until he became numb to it.

Many say that those that step between the ropes of a boxing ring do so because they don’t have any other choice.   No one voluntarily wants to be punched in the face or have his/her nose broker multiple times.   Oscar’s story was no different, his brother was supposed to be the boxer.  However, he soon found the ring would become his sanctuary.  Boxing made him feel important and those ropes provided shelter from the pain he felt outside of the ring.

Outside of the gym, Oscar soon stumbled upon another vice in the form of alcohol.   From his first drink, provided by his uncles at a family picnic, Oscar would turn to alcohol until it finally turned on him.

Boxing fans will no doubt enjoy the trip down memory lane that begins once he signs with Hall of Fame promoter, Bob Arum and Top Rank Inc.  To this day there has never been a company that has guided more fighters from prospects to cross-over stars.

Oscar was piling up wins vs meticulously selected opponents until he was ready for his first title shot after ten professional fights.   Oscar was victorious until he finally faced adversity for the first time in the ring when he outlasted the game and rugged John John Molina.   At that point Oscar decided to make a change from his amateur coach and welcomed in his new trainer Jesus Rivero, a man that Oscar lovingly refers to as, “The Professor”.   A man that Oscar admits was the best trainer that he ever had.

Rivero took Oscar’s game to another level.  He made him a better all-around fighter and prepared him for his monumental first fight vs Chavez.

Oscar would be victorious as the fight was stopped due to the excessive bleeding from Chavez that was courteous of Oscar’s lethal jab.

Oscar believed that by beating an icon he would become an icon, but this victory was bittersweet.   Chavez was a Mexican legend, and many felt that Oscar wasn’t Mexican enough.  This would not only fuel Oscar but it also made him resentful.

Episode one ends with the two best sequences in the film.  Villena does his best work showing Oscar in the ring with footage from camera angles not seen during a normal HBO fight.   Black and white in slow motion, Oscar’s voice is describing how inside the ring the opponent didn’t matter as he was in there fighting himself.

We end the first episode with footage of Oscar soundly defeating Chavez in their rematch.  However, the story being told is by Oscar’s brother, Joel Jr. who describes the look in his little brother’s eyes when he was bested by him in a typical sibling clash.   By besting both foes, Oscar finally felt the sense of a boy becoming a man.

Episode 2:  (3 stars out of 4)   

The second episode picks up as a now boxing superstar is preparing for another mega-fight against fellow 

unbeaten champion, Felix Trinidad. 

We watch de la Hoya make the strides necessary to become his own boss, as “Golden Boy Promotions” is conceived.  

Oscar the businessman is booming, but we soon see that its foundation is starting to crack.  His psychological scars were never addressed and they soon wreak havoc on him as well as his own children.

We meet Oscar’s former fiancée Shanna Moakler, a Hollywood actress that helped form a Power Couple.  She faithfully stood by his side following his first professional loss.  She supported him when he got out of his contract with Top Rank and she remained loyal when he was served with a paternity suit which proved that he was the father of a child he had with a woman he met and slept with once.

Moakler noticed a strain and change in their relationship once Oscar appointed a former Swiss banker, Richard Schaeffer as CEO of Golden Boy Promotions.  She would soon find out firsthand the fate of many once they were no longer the apple of a boxing promoter’s eye.

De la Hoya the boxer would now experience a series of career peaks and valleys.   His victory in a grudge match vs Fernando Vargas was sandwiched between two razor-thin losses to Shane Mosley.

An ill-advised move to middleweight resulted in a stoppage loss to all-time great Bernard Hopkins, but it led to Hopkins joining Golden Boy Promotions.

In the meantime, Schaeffer steered de la Hoya to focus on the booming Latino market.  He would even become influential in Oscar’s meeting his eventual wife, Puerto Rican pop star Millie Corretjer.

The two met and Oscar asked her to be in his Latin pop music video.  She accepted, and the two began dating and eventually getting married. 

This of course was news to Oscar’s fiancé who found out that she had been replaced when she saw Oscar on the  Red Carpet of the Latin Grammy Awards holding hands with another woman.

De La Hoya now found himself living in Puerto Rico.  He wasn’t fighting or training as often, and without the sanctuary of the ring, he turned to drugs and alcohol.  

His addiction and dependence on alcohol was no longer a well-kept secret.  But it is rare to hear the word, “No” from anyone in your inner circle when they are most likely on your payroll.

Golden Boy Promotions had now grown to be the main rival to Top Rank Inc. 

Oscar the fighter and promoter had now found the perfect villain that would again allow him to play the role of boxing’s good guy.

He agreed to face the super-talented, but brash “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather.  The two Top Rank creations/defectors would now face off in what was billed as, “The fight to save boxing”.

He and Mayweather starred in the creation of a four-part behind-the-scenes documentary titled “24/7”.  This would become a boxing staple for future major fights, as well as features on major events in other sports.

Oscar lost a split decision, but the promotion broke box office and pay per view records.  Despite their animosity, Oscar would promote Mayweather’s next ten fights.

De la Hoya’s final fight would take place in December of 2008.  In what first appeared to be a money grab, Oscar would return to welterweight to take on high rising, but much smaller lightweight Manny Pacquiao. 

From the opening bell, it became clear that Oscar had nothing to offer on that evening.  He was a drained fighter that simply became old overnight.

Oscar’s brother painfully describes his feelings as he watched the bout from ringside.  He admitted that he felt as if his brother was content to die in the ring that evening.  Oscar retired on his stool after eight rounds, and he would never fight again.

Now that the sand had officially run out of his boxing hour glass, Oscar began taking business trips to New York.  He began spending time with his mistress, Milana Dravnel, a stripper of Russian descent. 

This relationship literally became front-page news when photos of a cross-dressing Oscar were released to the media.  With his marriage and image again on the ropes, de la Hoya found himself in full crisis mode.   Milana fell on the sword by lying to the media when she claimed that the photos were fake and had been photo-shopped.

Oscar’s image was temporarily salvaged, but it only delayed the inevitable.  Oscar finally entered a rehab facility in 2013.

A reflective De La Hoya now seemed determined to undo the damage that his years of greed and recklessness had caused his children Atiana,  Jacob, and Devon. 

His life had now come full circle.   He went from a boy with a family that he was unable to communicate with, to a man that had his own children that really only knew their father from what they read about him or saw on television.

America loves nothing more than watching their favorite athletes rise to heights beyond their dreams, only to see them fall from grace.   There are the rare few that rise again. 

The jury remains out on Oscar.  I want to believe that his trip to rehab was only the beginning of his recovery.   I hope that he is able to salvage relationships with his children and help to exorcise any demons that they may have before they themselves become parents.

I remain skeptical because as Oscar himself admits, “The world fell in love with my story, but it was a lie.”

Jason Pribila is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He could be reached for questions or comments at pribs2000@gmail.com or followed on twitter.com @PribsBoxing