LAS VEGAS -- He was the Golden Boy, a fighter who brought in fans for decades after winning a gold medal at the 1992 Olympics. Oscar De La Hoya fought 45 times in 16 years as a pro, winning 39 of them along his way to titles in six different weight classes. He made millions, and his huge fan base made other fighters who beat him stars in their own right. But success came at a price, including two stints in rehab for alcohol abuse, which De La Hoya says plagued him since his youth in East Los Angeles. Some details about De La Hoya: DRINKING: De La Hoya says he was drinking throughout much of his career, including at the Olympics and in the weeks before his final fight, a loss to Manny Pacquiao in December 2008. RETIREMENT IS TOUGH: De La Hoya fought past his prime. Most boxers do fight too long, he said, mostly because they miss the attention. "I would always ask, Now what?" De La Hoya said. "Whats going to fill the void of the adrenaline, the excitement, and the cheers in the ring? It shows you can get lost when you stop doing something you love. Youre not prepared to handle it and you can make some wrong choices." At least he kept and invested much of the $300 million he earned. De La Hoya says that was a lesson he learned from retired boxers. PAY ATTENTION TO THE BAD STUFF: De La Hoya has some advice for any athlete, not just fighters. Take a look at the bad things that happen, learn from them, and try to avoid the mistakes others have made. "Take a look at my career and look at all the negatives and just dont do what I did," he said. "Its easier said than done but its true. Dont look at the good things we did because thats too easy. Take the bad and what happens in our lives and learn from it." MAYWEATHER ISNT UNBEATABLE: De La Hoya might have won his 2007 fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. if he would have kept using his jab late in the fight. Age and a bad rotator cuff prevented that, but De La Hoya says Mayweather can be had if fighters keep calm and follow a good game plan. "What happens now is they lose before they step into the ring," he said. "Mayweather outsmarts them." BOXING ISNT DEAD: The problems with boxing are simple and easily solved, De La Hoya says. Top boxers like Mayweather need to fight more often, and different promoters have to match their best fighters against boxers with other promoters to make more big fights. De La Hoya says he is all in now on his promotional company, Golden Boy Promotions, and believes the seemingly insatiable demand by sports programmers for live content will keep boxing popular for years to come. "We havent even scratched the surface," he said. "This is a business that maybe one day, 20 or 30 years from now, I will sell and it will be big." 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Under Armour Shoes Cheap . -- Ryan Millers debut for the St.MINNEAPOLIS -- After winning two World Series titles with the Boston Red Sox, Terry Francona knows a thing or two about October baseball. Getting the Cleveland Indians on the cusp of a playoff appearance in his first year with the team just makes it that much sweeter. The Indians pulled into a tie atop the AL wild card standings Friday night, pounding out 17 hits in a 12-6 romp over the Minnesota Twins. "Its everything you hope for when you go to spring training," Francona said. "You cant let yourself get ahead, but the fact that everybodys tired and we cant wait to get back here tomorrow, thats what were here for." With the win and Tampa Bays loss at Toronto, the Indians moved into a tie with the Rays for the two AL wild cards, one game ahead of Texas, which beat Los Angeles. Cleveland has won eight straight and 13 of 15, taking advantage of a schedule that ends with 10 games against Houston, the Chicago White Sox and the Twins, the three worst teams in the AL this season. Last year the Indians were one of those teams, winning just 68 games and entering the year with low expectations. But after improving to 90-70 on Friday night, Francona wasnt in the mood to look back on the season just yet. "Theres time to reminisce when the seasons over. Weve got to show up in about 10 hours and try to get to 91," Francona said. "Im thrilled that were playing for what were playing for." Carlos Santana and Asdrubal Cabrera both had two doubles and Jason Kipnis was a homer short of the cycle as the Indians jumped out to a 7-0 lead and knocked out Twins starter Pedro Hernandez (3-3) in the second inning. "He just had a bad night," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said of his rookie left-hander. "They were all over him right from the get-go. Kind of non-stop." By the time the second inning was over, the Indians had four doubles and a triple, and the first seven hitters in their batting order had at least one hit. "I think you just have to give credit to our lineup tonight," said Indians centre fielder Drew Stubbs, who went 2 for 4 with a two-run homer in the ninth inning. "We came out and when we got good pitches to hit we put good swings on them and gave ourselves a pretty good cushion." Ryan Raburn singled in two runs in the second, and Mike Aviles added a two-run single in the fiifth for the Indians, who went 7 for 12 with runners in scoring position.dddddddddddd. Indians starter Corey Kluber (11-5) managed to win his fifth straight decision. He started the game with three scoreless innings, but then allowed 10 of the next 16 hitters to reach and was knocked out with one out in the sixth. Kluber gave up six earned runs and 10 hits, but walked only one and struck out five. "I felt like mechanically I was there," Kluber said. "I felt good physically. I think the last couple of innings I just fell behind a couple guys and got a couple balls up." The Twins scratched back thanks to Pedro Florimons two-run homer in the fifth, and after Alex Presley dumped a two-run single into left field with two outs in the sixth, the Twins had climbed within 9-6. Five relievers then combined to shut out the Twins over the final 3 2-3 innings. Cleveland right-hander Justin Masterson threw a scoreless eighth as he works his way back from a strained left oblique that sidelined him for three weeks. The Indians tacked on three more runs in the last two innings, courtesy of an RBI double by Kipnis and Stubbs 10th homer of the season, a two-run blast to left that made him the 10th Indian to reach double figures in home runs this year. "The way the wind was shifting the ball started carrying," Francona said. "They get to 9-6 and you dont want to be in a situation where a mistake can cost you a game. The guys kept grinding and thats good." In the end, Francona was left deciding how to spend the few hours between the end of Fridays 3 1-2 hour marathon and the start of Saturdays matinee. "I just want to keep playing. I dont want to go home. I dont care where we play, when we play, I just want to keep playing," he said. "I ought to just sit here and stay in my uni because Im probably not going to sleep a heck of a lot." NOTES: With their 6-5 victory over Minnesota on Thursday, the Indians improved their record in one-run games to 30-17, the best mark in the major leagues. . Twins C Josmil Pinto left the game after being hit on the right hand with a pitch in the fourth inning. Precautionary X-rays were negative and hes considered day-to-day with a bruised hand. . The Indians will send LHP Scott Kazmir (9-9) to the mound against Minnesota RHP Cole De Vries (0-1) on Saturday. ' ' '