A year and a half ago, Oscar Jesús Cantú was awoken early by a message from the John E. Conner Museum. In the message, he was told that his hometown museum of Kingsville wanted to feature him in an exhibit. Thinking the message had been part of an elaborate dream, Cantú put the message aside and went back to sleep. Little did he know, the message wasn’t imaginary, but a dream come true for the champion boxer.
Cantú, known as Li’l Oscar by his fans, is a prominent member of the Kingsville community as a boxer and a role model to school children and advocate for “I Am Second.”
The Connor Museum is a place Li’l Oscar had been to over a hundred times. He grew up coming to the museum to pick up his younger sister from Conner Camp every summer. On Saturday, Aug. 25, Li’l Oscar nervously made his way to the museum, anxious to see a permanent exhibit made in his honor.
“It finally sunk in as I started getting ready this morning. I thought, ‘oh man, there’s going to be an exhibit about me. I’m so nervous.’ I told my wife, ‘what am I going to say?’’ Li’l Oscar recalled. “I feel like a little kid, I don’t know what to say. But I finally got it all down.”
The project started in 2016 as a way to find new exhibits that would expand the museum’s Hall of South Texas History. The hall hadn’t been substantially updated since the 1990s, and it wasn’t attracting much attention from younger crowds. Jonathan Plant, director of the Conner Museum, decided he wanted to create an exhibit based on a community member with outstanding achievements.
“I wanted someone who would be interesting and inspirational for young boys because we get a lot of schools kids coming in from the rural schools,” Plant said.
Plant quickly approached the Cantú family, which was more than enthusiastic to contribute to the exhibit. Li’l Oscar and his family donated pictures, uniforms, championship belts and boxing gloves that could go on display and some that would be auctioned at the opening of the exhibit. All the proceeds raised from the silent auction will go towards charity for children in Kingsville.
Several people from the community, including the Kingsville city commissioners, Mayor Sam Fugate, and Kleberg County Judge Rudy Madrid attended the opening of the exhibit. Fugate gave a brief speech about Li’l Oscar and his influence on the Kingsville community.
“I don’t believe there’s any other person that has brought as much honor and pride, and esteem to our city like Oscar Cantú has,” Fugate said. “It’s not really hard to understand why he is who he is when you know his parents.”
Jaime Cantú, ‘Li’l Oscar’s dad, trainer, manager and best friend runs a boxing program for children in Kingsville. He believes youth sports are meant to do more than just teach youngsters skills about a sport, but to teach them to give back to others and to learn discipline. Jaime Cantú has trained Li’l Oscar since he was eight at the 12th Street Gym in Kingsville.
“I am completely honored, beyond words. I speak on behalf as his father, but the reality is that this is Kingsville’s child. This is all of us. So everybody who’s ever prayed for him, bought a raffle for him when he was a kid…this is our result,” Jaime Cantu said.
Erica Marcial, one of Li’l Oscar’s sisters, gave a speech about her brother’s childhood start in boxing. She recalls having friendly boxing matches with her brother and the moments her family went to watch him compete in the Olympic trials. She believes that the new exhibit honoring her brother will give local kids someone to look up to.
“It brings a human quality. That connection. Yes, we see animals because we live down here,” Mercedes said, referencing the taxidermy animals on display, “but to come into a museum [to see Li’l Oscar], you see that there is more to this town. We can become something,”
Li’l Oscar admits that he initially started boxing as a way to protect his sisters as the only boy of his family, but he is now the current champion of five boxing titles. These titles include the NABF Flyweight, NABF Super Flyweight, Junior NABF Super Flyweight, WBC USNBC Super Flyweight, and WBC Youth Intercontinental Bantamweight championship titles.
Eric Mercado is Li’l Oscar’s figurative big brother. Mercado first met Li’l Oscar in 2015 when he went to one of his fights in Laredo, Texas. In the past three years, they have become great friends and have a strong brotherly bond.
“It’s an amazing accomplishment of what he did. He’s worked hard for the community and for him to be recognized as a role model, it’s an amazing feeling because he’s like my little brother. It’s like my little brother is getting honored. I’m so proud of him,” Mercado said.
The ‘Li’l Oscar exhibit is just one of many of the museums “long overdue” changes Plant intends to make to the museum. Plant plans to install new texts panels at the Conner Museum that are bilingual, colorful and have more graphics that will cater to the web-based generation.
Eddie Aguilera thinks the museum couldn’t have picked a better role model for their new permanent exhibit. Aguilera has known the Cantús since he was a 16 years old. Javier Cantú was his mentor and helped him get out of gangs. He has since been Li’l Oscar’s co-manager and believes the museum exhibition reflects Li’l Oscar’s years of hard work.
“Obviously there are hard times, we have bumps in the road, and then things happen from the Olympic trials to everything that he’s gone through and the big battles…It goes to show what he believes in. That hard work pays off..,” Aguilera said