In Latino boxers and gay paranoia (March 1, 2006), I noted the escalating war of words between adversaries in two upcoming boxing matches and how two Nicaraguan boxers, Rosendo Alvarez and Ricardo Mayorga (both managed by US-based boxing figure Don King) were both using press events to question their adversaries' sexuality, using the Spanish word for "faggot" and generally questioning their rivals' sexual proess and masculinity. Obviously, this is boxing, so it must be said that most of these confrontations during press conferences seem to be staged for maximum scandal (and to draw interest to the fights) but, according to reports, the blatant homophobia was starting to truly annoy Oscar De La Hoya, who faced Ricardo Mayorga last night.
The De La Hoya fight did lead to a bizarre television interview on Tuesday when Jay Leno had Dr. Phil and the boxer as guests. If memory serves me right, De La Hoya walked into it by asking Dr. Phil what he could do to deal with having to be celibate for an extended period of time before a match and not being able to have sex with his wife. Dr. Phil said something to the effect that he personally wasn't gay or needed to observe celibacy so he didn't know what to say. De La Hoya tried to laugh it off and even threw a kiss to Dr. Phil as he got a bit closer to him. Considering the questions that have followed De La Hoya all through his boxing career and how ugly the comments got in this particular match, it was a weird way to deflect some of the commentary. ---