Legendary boxer Oscar De La Hoya has a message for a sports world that idolized and doted on him.

“Hi. I’m Oscar De La Hoya and I’m an alcoholic.”

So, we have tarnish on the Golden Boy. The fighter who carried the sport for nearly a decade, who proved you didn’t have to be a heavyweight to appeal to the masses, who generated nearly $700 million in pay-per-view revenue before retiring at 36 in 2009, is telling all.

We never thought he was a choir boy. There have been stories of boozing and womanizing along the way. But he was a boxer. You don’t expect St. Peter.

Still, this week’s revelation deserves the attention of the sports world because it is a world where the toughest truths are seldom uttered.

The truth, and nothing but the truth, begins its unraveling on the first tee of the Ojai Valley Inn golf course. Pose for a photo, the starter says. OK now, everybody say “whiskey.”

De La Hoya says, “Water.”

The tone is set. It will be 18 holes and 6,292 yards of introspection. The horrible details, the pain, anger and depth of despair, bring insignificance to the shanks and three-putts.

“I haven’t been truly sober since I was 8,” De La Hoya says, recalling how he was a waiter at family functions, brought beer to the men and was encouraged to take a sip.

“A sip sounds harmless,” he says. “But after about 20, you are drunk.”

“I remember the first time, when I passed out. My mother whacked me pretty good, but the men seemed fine with it.”

Read the full L.A. Times story here

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