Customer Reviews

Golden Boy: The Fame, Money, and Mystery of Oscar De LA Hoya

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As an Oscar de la Hoya fan, I try to get my hands on anything that is written about this boxer who I consider to be my role model.This book truly didn't disappoint me. Kawakami goes into such detail in Oscar's life from the time the "Golden Boy" was just a shy little kid to the present rich and highly desired champion. Kawakami gives his reader in depth knowledge ranging from Oscar's private life, which he seems to totally know all the women in Oscar's life, to a side one is not accostumed to seeing and knowing of the Golden Boy like his leaving of managers to managers that payed the De la Hoya's more money and a sense of ruthlessness.In the end, this is what makes the Book so great because it says about both sides of the story: the good and the bad of Oscar de la hoya. A very unbiased book, that doesn't have information that makes Oscar look like a Saint or Satan, but makes Oscar look human.A must have for the hardcore Oscar de la Hoya fans like me or for any other person interested in a book that you will not put down until you finish reading it!

As a boxing fan, it is impossible not to embrace "Golden Boy.'' The author, Tim Kawakami, obviously knows his stuff. I found myself unable to put down the book because Kawakami wrote like a novelist. He did not merely fill up pages with facts and figures and methodical recounts of De La Hoya's bouts. Nor did he fall into the trap of gushing and heaping praise on a celebrity. Instead, Kawakami went deep, into the heart and soul and mind of a young man, revealing that all that glitters is not necessarily golden. Nonetheless, Kawakami was more than fair throughout. His newspaper training was in evidence by his every attempt to analyze and deal with the facts, while refraining from cheap shots and innuendo when the difficult parts of De La Hoya's life were chronicled. I highly recommend "Golden Boy'' not just for boxing fans, but for anyone who enjoys a captivating story. I think De La Hoya should at least appreciate it, too. Granted, the book does not paint him in an entirely favorable light. But the boxer should feel good that someone made a legitimate effort to portray him in a human light. And after all, isn't that the predicament that faces all of us?

Tim Kawakami turns in a decent re-telling of Oscar De la Hoya's rise to boxing fame & fortune, interviewing many of the prime movers & shakers to come in & out of the Golden Boy's orbit up until 1999. The author paces the tale well, giving the reader a real flavour of the personalities & their motivations & machinations within 'Oscar's World'.
Having said that, you sense from his writing Kawakami doesn't like his subject too much, either as a boxer or human being. He seems overly critical of De la Hoya both outside of & within the ring. In his reviews of some of the fighters' biggest tests during this period, he seems to constantly look for reasons other than being better than his opponent for De la Hoya to have triumphed. Maybe to some extent this is valid, but Kawakami seems more inclined to veer towards negative interpretations of events without exploring more positive possibilities.
The books biggest disappointment (though this can't be blamed on the writer) is in the timing of its conclusion. It ends abruptly just prior to De la Hoya's fight versus Ike Quartey; the Golden Boy's career reaching its most exciting period with big fights against the likes of Trinidad, Mosley & Vargas still to come. This time in Oscar's life also saw him getting married, becoming a successful boxing promoter & seemingly developing into a more rounded human being. Growing up, in other words.
I would be interested to read Kawakami's interpretation of these times in De la Hoya's life, maybe in an updated edition of this title or in a completely new book. That said, this is a good insight into the workings of both the business of boxing and the early career of the Golden Boy.

Kawakami writes reasonably well, and the book is a good read, but far from the best boxing book I've picked up.

The most interesting aspect is the nasty side of Oscar we get to read about - behind all the glossy marketing, the lad is a fighter after all, and his strained relationship with his father seems sourced as a pivotal aspect in his temperament.

Oscar seems to betray everyone who helps him along the way, and is painted as a ridiculously impressionable young man, desperately looking for people to tell him how to live his life. The book paints an interesting picture of America's Golden Boy, leaving him looking less than innocent at the end.

I thoroughly enjoyed the author's piercing and technically proficient story about someone he clearly cared for but was bluntly honest about the less than perfect way Oscar conducted himself. As a boxing fan, I could not ask for a more detailed account of a "superstar". His triumphs and tribulations . This book is certainly worth your time.

Upon purchasing this book I expected a glossy, inch deep journey through the life of one of our generations most high profile non-heavyweight fighters. Much to my suprise and enjoyment, the writer, Tim Kawakami sifted through the carefully cultivated image that we have glimpsed from De La Hoya via his tv and other print appearances and uncovered what makes the fighter tick. The reader actually gets to witness the true insecurities and heartbreaks that fueled Oscar's rise to the top of the boxing food chain. While the prose is niether poetic or flashy, the author provides rare glimpses of an unfiltered Oscar during his formative years in boxing. Defintely a must read for any De La Hoya fan, but maybe not for the general reader.

Even though I like to look at Oscar, this book was well-written enough to counter my complaint with the lack of pictures.

Oscar's psyche is explained with an observant's P.O.W. which makes for an unbiased biography. The readers leaves with the understanding of the unfortuate shallowness, coldness, and (IMO)a little sympathetic.