In a recent gathering, Miami played host to a dynamic assembly of influential Latinos, where the essence of Latino entrepreneurship and its profound influence on the U.S. was celebrated. L’ATTITUDE Event 2023 took place at the iconic Fontainebleau Miami Beach and was a four-day event that created a vibrant platform for showcasing excellence in Latino business endeavors. The event fostered discussions on the latest trends and opportunities driving growth in this dynamic sector.
Prominent Latino figures from diverse domains came together to explore the dynamics of “The New Mainstream Economy,” creating a melting pot of influential voices. Notable attendees included music legend and L’ATTITUDE partner Emilio Estefan, who led a panel on music, and John Leguízamo who talked about producing content for new Latino audiences. Rising star Xolo Maridueña, celebrated for his role as the first Latino-led superhero, alongside MSNBC contributor María Teresa Kumar, an Emmy-nominated political and social entrepreneur, and the presence of sports icons including NBA’s Manu Ginobili, Gerson Rosas, Xavier Gutiérrez, and former boxer Oscar De La Hoya, added to the event’s exceptional talent and insight.
HOLA!, with its ever-presence, secured an exclusive interview with former Mexican-American boxer Oscar de la Hoya. During our chat, he shared his thoughts on being an inspiration to the Latin community and provided a sneak peek into his upcoming docu-series, a follow-up to his acclaimed HBO Max documentary, “The Golden Boy: Oscar de la Hoya.”
He also opened up about his personal life, discussing his girlfriend’s role in his exciting and fun new show. Read our interview below and find out what the star athlete has been up to lately.
Oscar, it’s so great to chat with you. It’s incredible what you represent to the Latino community. What do you think about that? Do you realize it? Do you embrace it? Do you feel that responsibility?
I don’t want to realize it. It’s like pinching yourself and waking up from that dream. I don’t want to realize it. I want to continue to feel like I am living a dream so I can feel that passion. I can feel the true authenticity of what I’m saying. It’s like I don’t want to wake up. I love what I do. I love who I am. I love the inspiration that I can be, and so I don’t want to change anything.
And it’s amazing because after or while the HBO documentary that I was in was being filmed, it just made me realize that...What I’m doing and what I’ve done over the years has been important to many people. And so I just finally figured it out. I finally realized it. So it’s like, my gosh, wow, okay, I did that? It’s pretty cool. It’s a good feeling, but I want to continue. I want to do more, but it has to be organically. It has to be to a point where I don’t even notice that I’m doing it. You get it?
That it doesn’t become a thing like, oh, I have to do this.
Got it! Mentorship for us, for Latinos, has always been a challenge. Are you mentoring people right now? Is that something that you’re doing or you would like to do? Especially from the business side, of course, you probably have great kids doing great things with boxing, but the mentorship part.
Yeah. No, again, if it happens organically, if it happens where one of my fighters would come up to me and say, look, I want to hear how you did it. I want to learn about the business; I’m more than happy to. But whenever I speak to kids, whether it’s my high school that we built there in East LA, it’s always motivating for me to talk to these kids and to know how smart they are and how educated they are in real time. What’s happening now in these current events is fascinating, but there’s this core value that everybody needs help with.
And with all my success and even the lows and the highs and all my career, my losses, my wins, I have a message that is universal to everyone. A message that is positive, a message that is inspiring, a message that can literally uplift anybody. So I try to use it as much as I can.
“And with all my success and even the lows and the highs and all my career, my losses, my wins, I have a message that is universal to everyone. A message that is positive, a message that is inspiring, a message that can literally uplift anybody. So I try to use it as much as I can.” - Oscar de la Hoya -
Is this your first time here at Latitude?
Second time, I was in San Diego. For the first time, I was actually... How did that happen? By accident.
They asked me, and I was like, oh my gosh, I would love to. It’s what I love doing for the Hispanic community, for the Latino community. It’s like a responsibility. It’s almost a responsibility because of how much the community supported me. Because without that support, I wouldn’t be in this situation, in this position myself. I wouldn’t be the golden boy. I wouldn’t be the money generator in the sport. Just without the support of the Latino fan base, it would be impossible.
Could you talk a little bit about the docu-series ?
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah. So my documentary ended in a very... well, it wasn’t like a hero moment. It wasn’t a moment where all these documentaries, okay, oh, he’s doing great now, and he’s a champion. No, I wanted this documentary to end in a way where people wanted to learn more. They asked and wanted to see what was going on with Oscar. What is he doing? What is he up to? Who is he with? This, that.
So what we’re working on now is a docu follow where you can take a look inside into my life, my personal life, my businesses, with my girlfriend. We have such an amazing relationship. It’s a hilarious one. She’s this white girl from Ohio who people think she’s Latina but really, she has no clue how to speak Spanish.
By default, by default.
By default, yes. And so we’re just hilarious. This kid from East LA and they came together. It’s almost like the Ricky, Ricardo and Lucy type
Oh, that’s cool. Yeah. That’s awesome.
So we’re going to play that off in the docu follow, the docuseries, and I’m looking to film it in Las Vegas where we’re going to move.
“It’s what I love doing for the Hispanic community, for the Latino community. It’s like a responsibility. It’s almost a responsibility because of how much the community supported me.” - Oscar de la Hoya
Great move to Las Vegas, nice!
Yeah, we’re building a home there in Las Vegas. It should be done in a couple of weeks. It would follow us in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, to give an insight into what our lives are all about. I’ll give you a perfect example of how funny this is. So, I’m thinking about eventually running for mayor of Las Vegas. In one of the episodes, I tell Holly, why don’t you take out some billboards on the freeway there? So maybe some of me as a fighter, vote for me. And I’m actually going to have flyers and go knock on the doors door to door, like please vote for me. And people are going to... They’re going to love it. It’s going to be hilarious.
And you’re going to win, right? That’s the whole point.