The millions of fans who saw Oscar De La Hoya fight Steve Forbes this weekend will have noticed that the self-described “Golden Boy” was wearing an unusual color combination: orange gloves and orange-striped black shorts with a small emblem embedded on the right leg — the colors of Major League Soccer’s Houston Dynamo. It was the first time De La Hoya, who is now a minority owner of the Dynamo, wore advertising on his clothing for a boxing match.
In an interview with ESPN’s Andrea Canales, Houston’s new part-owner says he’s excited about the opportunity, but admits that until he retires from boxing at the end of this year, the Dynamo will have to take a back seat to his schedule and training. “With the Houston Dynamo, I’ll be assisting a few games here or there, but it’s not going to come in between my training or interfere with my training,” De La Hoya says, adding that he is thus far delegating most of his responsibility to “a great team of people who will over see operations with our partners, AEG and with the Brener group.”
Dynamo general manager Oliver Luck says that De La Hoya’s presence will ultimately be a boon to the players. “The players are stoked,” he says. “They know that there’s an owner who is an active athlete and who has trained hard, fought hard and done all those things that our players are doing on a daily basis. They can easily relate to Oscar.” Perhaps most importantly, Luck points out that De La Hoya “is very much loved in the Latino community,” the coveted demographic that MLS has struggled to win over.