Oscar de la Hoya was the original Golden Boy of boxing following his Olympic victory in Barcelona in 1992, hailed by Presidents for his clean-cut iconic image and worshipped by his millions of fans in the United States and Latin America.

Until the advent of Floyd Mayweather Jr, he had generated more money than any other boxer in the history of the sport, an estimated $696 million (£436 million/€520 million).

But instead of helping the new Money Man count the record takings this week after Mayweather's master class conquest of Mexican rival Saul "Canelo" Alvarez in Las Vegas, where he was the co-promoter of the richest-ever boxing bout, De la Hoya was apologising for his absence back in rehab, another victim of the sad litany of the 3-D syndrome that is hitting boxing more devastatingly than any punches thrown in the ring: drink, drugs and depression.

The fight game reeled from the shock two years ago when De la Hoya, conqueror of 17 world champions, revealed himself as a self-confessed alcoholic and drugs addict who dressed in drag and cheated regularly on his wife, mother of two of his five children. He said he had been driven to the brink of suicide.

Oscar de la Hoya is another of boxing's drink, drugs and depression victims


After spending three months in rehab in a Californian clinic the Mexican-American idol stepped back into the game as head honcho of Golden Boy Promotions but shortly before the Mayweather fight at the weekend he voluntarily admitted himself into a treatment facility, explaining: "I hope everyone understands that my health and long term recovery from my disease must come first."

What makes this such a wretched tale is that here was no archetypal washed-stumblebum on Skid Row, with which boxing is sadly familiar, but aged only 40, a handsome, articulate, almost god-like multi-millionaire boxer-businessman with all his faculties who converted that Olympic gold to two fistfuls of world titles in six different weight divisions from super-featherweight to light-middleweight in a 16-year, 55-fight-career in which he came closer than anyone to defeating the apparently untouchable Mayweather, losing on a split decision in 2007.

Outside of Muhammad Ali, De La Hoya has been the best-loved figure in US boxing during the past half-century.

Until he entered the Betty Ford clinic in Malibu De La Hoya had been fighting the influence of alcohol throughout his entire amateur and professional career, saying" "It was a monster so big I cannot describe it. It was bad. I'm surprised it hasn't killed me.

"Those nights when I was drunk and on my own, I asked myself, 'Is it really worth continuing to live?' I contemplated suicide. I'm incapable of doing something like that, but I did think about it."

Alas, only, last week there was another fight figure who did more than think about it.

Next Saturday night there will be a count of ten at the Copper Box in London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The traditional tolling of the ring bell will honour the memory of Dean Powell, a boxing man of great distinction, who unlike De La Hoya, has taken his own life, the latest in a grim line of tragedies to hit the sport in Britain.

Dean Powell's suicide is the latest in a grim line of tragedies to hit boxing in Britain


Powell, 47, who fell under a train at a South London station last Tuesday (September 10) morning, was the show's matchmaker, as he had been for all of Frank Warren's promotions for the past decade. He was also Britain's top cornerman. There is barely a boxer in the land, from Ricky Hatton to Ricky Burns, via Naseem Hamed, Nigel Benn, Amir Khan, Joe Calzaghe et al who have not reaped the benefit of "Deano's" sagely whispered advice between rounds.

He would have been working the corners of Dereck Chisora and Billy Joe Saunders, who jointly top the inaugural Copper Box bill. Both are dedicating their bouts to him. Heavyweight Chisora meets German Edmund Gerber for the vacant European crown and Saunders defends his British middleweight belt against fellow unbeaten challenger John Ryder in bouts televised live by BoxNation.

A dumbfounded Chisora told insidethegames: "This has been has been a sad, sad week for me - I lost one of my closest friends. The last time I saw Dean was on the Monday when he came over to my house to discuss the game plan for his fight. He made notes, asked me what time I wanted him at the Copper Box to wrap my hands and I said 'See you soon'. We gave each other hug and then the next day I heard he was dead. He was a lovely man.

"Dean was famous. Boxing people loved him for the work he did. He was known all over the world, Africa, America, everywhere. He worked my corner for all but one of my 21 pro fights and was the first man to sign me.

"He was always excited about the game had all these ideas. He was the man who told me to dress myself in the Union Jack. I'll miss him."

Warren says his office first became worried after receiving a text from Powell on Tuesday morning asking them to look after his family. "We still can't comprehend it. There seems no explanation. His death leaves a massive void in world boxing."

Billy Smith took his own life, three years after his twin Ernie did the same


Powell's suicide follows that of twin boxing brothers, journeymen pros Billy and Ernie Smith. Billy, 35, hanged himself in July; three years after Ernie had done the same.

Three years ago the Irish Olympic medallist Darren Sutherland, 27, was found hanged in his London flat soon after turning pro and last year middleweight Lewis Pinto, 24, was found hanging from a tree in a London park.

In 2002 another legendary cornerman, George Francis, who trained Frank Bruno and John Conteh, similarly took his own life.

The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) admits "concern" about growing instances of depression among those in the sport after the trade paper Boxing News highlighted what it termed boxing's "silent killer" - depression.

When they asked the Manchester trainer Joe Gallagher if he knew of any fighters who suffered from depression he replied: "It would be harder to find a fighter who doesn't."

We know that former world champion Ricky Hatton contemplated suicide while battling booze and drugs after his retirement, that contender Herol Graham actually attempted it and that Bruno has been in and out of psychiatric units for the past few years.

Ricky Hatton admitted to contemplating suicide while battling booze and
drugs after his retirement


The former European title challenger Ashley Sexton, who has struggled with depression, told Boxing News that he even went to a station intending to hurl himself in front of a train, as poor Dean Powell did, "because I thought that would be the easy way out, but it was having the bollocks to do it."

Likewise, the former British super-middleweight champion Tony Quigley revealed he had considered three ways of ending his life. "I was going to hang myself, throw myself off a bridge or swallow tablets. I used to sit there and think: 'So if I die, who's going to be interested'. I felt I was left by myself, with no help."

Across the Atlantic in last four years three world champions, Edwin Valero, Arturo Gatti and Alexis Argüello have all killed themselves, while the 1976 Olympic and subsequent multi-weight world champion Sugar Ray Leonard, as much and icon as De la Hoya, has graphically detailed his own struggles with rage, addiction, sexual abuse and depression in his recent biography.

The deadliest battles, it seems, are not those in the ring but dealing with boxing's unique pressures, or life after it, not least the fear of failure.

This is encapsulated by the current British heavyweight champion David Price, an Olympic bronze medallist in Beijing, who confesses sinking into depression after losing by KO for the second successive time to the American Tony Thompson this year, shattering his world title aspirations. He says the loneliness he felt "almost saw me off".

"People can try to tell you it's only a sport but when you've put your heart and soul into something and it ends with such bitter disappointment then it can drive you into a bit of a hole."

David Price confessed to sinking into depression after losing by KO for the second successive time to the American Tony Thompson


Of course boxing is by no means alone in this respect - football, cricket and rugby have had more than their share of high-profile personal tragedies but the mental frailty that leads to those in the fight game seems harder to comprehend because of the macho nature of what is can be the loneliest sport of all.

This is clearly something the Board of Control needs to address and secretary Robert Smith is appealing to any fighters who feel they need help to come to them.

"The biggest problem is that boxing is a very individual sport and maybe they are held back from talking about it because they think it is a weakness, when of course it's not. A lot of the time you don't know until it's too, late. But we will help in any way we can."

Meantime the bell tolls for Dean Powell on Saturday when the boxing world will sadly remember a man who was at the very heart of the game.

Alan Hubbard is a sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Games, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.