MOSCOW, Apr 21Former six-weight boxing world champion and Barcelona Olympic champion American Oscar De La Hoya has been charged with rape and sexual harassment in a civil lawsuit, ESPN reports, citing court documents. The lawsuit was filed against De La Hoya and the production company tequila Casa Mexico, one of the owners of which is a former boxer. According to the statement, the ex-employee of Casa Mexico was sexually harassed and raped by De La Hoya. She claims that an American in March 2020 during a corporate event in Mexico «burst into her room with his pants down and lay down in her bed,» when she was sleeping. According to the lawsuit, she pushed him off the bed and took him back to his room. According to her, the next morning, De La Hoya did not show up for a planned trip to the distillery, so the victim went to his room to wake him up, but he «dragged her into his bed and raped her.» It is noted that the woman later attended another corporate party. in Los Angeles at De La Hoya's home, where the ex-boxer «took out a sexual object from a collection stored in his home, and, according to the victim, forcibly inserted a sexual object into her body.» The woman reported the incident to the management of Casa Mexico, but they did nothing to punish De La Hoya. The ex-boxer himself denies the allegations. «With news releases 24 hours a day, we increasingly find ourselves in a situation where malicious and unfair accusations are interpreted as truth without evidence. I am confident that my legal team will resolve this issue and prove my innocence,» 49-year-old De La Hoya said in a statement. The American won 39 victories (30 by knockout) and suffered six defeats during his boxing career. The boxer ended his professional career in 2009. In 2021, he announced that he would return to the ring, but then abandoned this after suffering the coronavirus.
