"I make sure I train hard to deal with that pressure," Diego De La Hoya told through an interpreter. "Everyone wants to beat a De La Hoya. Ever since I've been training in the amateurs, everyone wanted to win against me because of my name, and so that pressure has been on me since before I was a professional."
The 22-year-old De La Hoya, who hails from Mexicali, Mexico, is the first cousin of former six-division world champion and International Boxing Hall of Famer Oscar De La Hoya, an idol of a generation of young fighters who also happens to be his cousin's promoter.
Some might wither under such a spotlight, but Diego De La Hoya said he has gotten used to it and uses it as a source of motivation.
"I deal with it by training hard," he said. "That's how I prove I'm good enough to have that name. It is difficult because everyone wants to beat me, but at the same time it does help me in opening a lot of doors, but it's about knowing which ones are the right ones to open. Oscar has made his own path in boxing, and now I am making sure I make my own."
