Oscar De La Hoya was born February 12, 1971 in East Los Angeles, California. He was six years old when he first began to box. His brother paired him with one of his cousins for his first fight and he automatically covered his cheeks and started throwing punches. Eventually his family started giving him money if he would win a match. He was never thought to be a fighter. Infact, he was scared of confrontation. He preferred to play with skateboards and nothing that included violence. His Grandfather was Vicente, an amateur in the 1940s, and his father Joel Sr.,a professional in the mid-1960s.