Oscar De La Hoya has won 10 world titles, an Olympic gold medal and has generated millions of dollars, but the boxing legend's bout with alcoholism nearly had him down for the count.

"The Golden Boy" says he's been a blackout drinker for three decades. He couldn’t admit his addiction problem publicly until last year when he entered treatment.  

“Every time I got a beer [for a family member as a child], I would have a sip," he explained. "

So after 30 or 40 runs of those 40 sips, [I was] just out of it. That was my first experience when I fell in love with alcohol.”

He added, "I can take myself back now and look at everything … and I understand it. It was lack of education -- lack of being educated on what alcoholism is.”

De La Hoya admitted he had never had a real relationship with anyone, including himself. The family members he stopped talking to many years ago was "due to being self-centered."

“I was just so into myself," he said. "It was all about me, me, me and me … now it’s being a recovering alcoholic. It's like now I’m realizing just how to live … but this is the toughest fight of my life … if I keep going to meetings and just keep being of service to somebody else, then I will stay sober."

The boxer noted that he was always a functioning alcoholic who knew how to cover his tracks. 



“I was always lying to everybody, including myself, because I was the type of fighter who would win fights ... but inside, I was just miserable. I was miserable with myself, because the shame that I had inside of me … it was literally a living hell,” he stated. 

”I’m convinced I was headed towards death.”

Being on the verge of losing it all, De La Hoya now says he is grateful to have his health, sobriety and his family.

“I can now live,” he said. “I have my life. 

And that’s the American dream.”

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