Fully vaccinated Oscar De La Hoya, 48, is hospitalized with COVID and pulls out of his comeback fight against Vitor Belfort
Oscar De La Hoya has withdrawn from his upcoming comeback fight after being hospitalized with COVID-19.
The 48-year-old revealed his diagnosis on Friday - eight days before he was scheduled to step into the ring to take on former UFC champion Vitor Belfort at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
De La Hoya announced he had contracted the coronavirus despite being fully vaccinated.
He shared a video to Twitter from his hospital bed accompanied by a caption which read: 'I wanted you to hear directly from me that despite being fully vaccinated, I have contracted COVID and am not going to be able to fight next weekend.
'Preparing for this comeback has been everything to me over the last months, & I want to thank everyone for their tremendous support.'
He added: 'I am currently in the hospital getting treatment and am confident I will be back in the ring before the year is up. God bless everyone and stay safe.'
In his clip, De La Hoya appeared to be having trouble breathing, before he looked directly into the camera and stated: 'What are the chances of me getting COVID? I've been taking care of myself and this really, really kicked my a**'.
De La Hoya's upcoming comeback fight against Belfort was scheduled to be his first professional bout since his retirement back in 2009.
Professional boxer Oscar De La Hoya has withdrawn from his upcoming comeback fight after testing positive for COVID-19. He is pictured at a media event in Los Angeles last week
De La Hoya shared a video from his hospital bed on Friday after contracting COVID-19
De La Hoya - who is nicknamed 'The Golden Boy' - is ranked as the 29th best boxer of all time, pound for pound.
He shot to fame after winning a gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics just months after graduating from high school.
The star has worked as a boxing promoter for the past two decades, and the match against Belfort was billed as a 'one-fight comeback'.
It was being promoted by Triller Fight Club, the promotion that backed Jake Paul's breakthrough bout back in 2019.
De La Hoya - who is nicknamed 'The Golden Boy' - is ranked as the 29th best boxer of all time, pound for pound. He shot to fame after winning a gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics just months after graduating from high school
De La Hoya was scheduled to take on former UFC champion Vitor Belfort at the Staples Center in Los Angeles
Legendary former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield is ready to step in to replacer De La Hoya, according to tmz.com.
The California State Athletic Commission will have have to approve the Holyfield-Belfort showdown.
If the commission does not sanction the fight, then the bout could then be staged in Florida instead.
Former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield is ready to replace Oscar De La Hoya
Earlier this week, De La Hoya hit headlines after he revealed that he was raped when he was 13 by a woman in her 30s, while at a boxing competition in Hawaii.
'I was raped at 13, from a woman, an older woman,' he told the Los Angeles Times.
'Thirteen, lost my virginity over being, you know, being raped, basically.
'I was in Hawaii, I think, at some tournament. She was over 35.'
'You suppress everything,' he said.
'You're living this life, the Golden Boy, but, oh s***, wait, that's still there.
'Like I never, like, thought about it, I never processed it, I never really thought how my feelings are … until one day it just comes out, and you don't know how to deal with it.'
De La Hoya founded his own company, Golden Boy, and was seen on August 24 to promote his reemergence from retirement
De La Hoya is seen at the age of 12. At 13, he said, he was raped by a woman in her 30s
In 1998, when he was 25, he was accused of having raped a 15-year-old in June 1996, at a Mexico hotel. The case was settled out of court in 2001.
From 2007 onwards, De La Hoya battled substance abuse issues, seeking treatment multiple times for alcoholism and cocaine addiction.
He was engaged to former Miss USA Shanna Moakler - mother of his eldest child, Atiana - but the relationship ended in September 2000 when Moakler, who was at home watching the Latin Grammys saw De La Hoya escorting another woman to the show.
From 2001-16 he was married to Puerto Rican singer Millie Corretjer, with whom he has three children.
He has two other sons, Jacob and Devon, from previous relationships.
In 2019 he was accused of inviting a woman, a registered nurse, to his Pasadena, California home in November 2017.
It was there, she claimed, that De La Hoya became intoxicated after revealing several bottles of liquor and a bag of 'what appeared to be cocaine' in his kitchen.
De La Hoya allegedly brought the woman to his bedroom, where she says he told her about his fetish for transgender porn and asked if she wanted to 'experiment' sexually. After she turned down several of his requests, she alleged that De La Hoya grew angry and ultimately 'held her down with one arm while' sexually assaulting her.
The woman claims she 'repeatedly said no and demanded that De La Hoya stop.'
In response to her screams, she says, De La Hoya laughed and offered her a shot of alcohol. The woman claims she refused and left his home in 'extreme pain and shock.'
He said the allegations were false, and no charges were ever filed.
De La Hoya was set to face former UFC champion Vitor Belfort in LA on September 11
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