De
La Hoya strikes again
Patrick
Hodgson
Returning
from a nearly two-year layoff, Oscar
De La Hoya beat the arrogance out of
Ricardo Mayorga and topped off a pugnacious
victory with a fierce sixth round TKO
to win a junior middleweight title Saturday
night before a thunderous crowd of 13,076
at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las
Vegas.
Believe it or not, the bout was more barbarous than the Phoenix Suns and Los
Angeles Lakers game seven match-up. De La Hoya assaulted Mayorga immediately
and never stopped firing as Mayorga languished along the ropes. De La Hoya
kindled over 20 punches, landing the majority of them, forcing the referee
to desist the fight with 1:25 remaining in the sixth round.
The victory gave De La Hoya his 10th championship in six different weight classes.
De La Hoya landed 116 of 264 punches and circumscribed Mayorga to landing just
58 of 333 blows. Mayorga, who also served as the perfect punching bag for Felix
Trinidad’s long layoff, had to eat the words he said before the fight.
De La Hoya was trained by trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. who said the camp worked
on blocking punches and said the primary concern for the fight was defense.
Before the fight, De La Hoya said he would either retire after the fight or
after a Sept. 16 bout against an opponent to be named. Many insiders expected
the opponent to be pound for pound King Floyd Mayweather Jr., the son of De
La Hoya’s trainer and the same man who annihilated Zab Judah less than
two months ago.
While most insiders felt the two would meet at 147 pounds, it appears more
likely the two men will meet at an agreed upon weight between welterweight
and junior middleweight. The bout with Mayweather is not set in stone and may
receive some problems because De La Hoya’s trainer, Floyd Mayweather
Sr., said he would do everything in his power to discourage De La Hoya from
fighting his son.
The only two scenarios that would generate the most money and ultimately benefit
the big mogul that is pay-per-view boxing and De La Hoya is if Winky Wright
defeats Jermaine Taylor in June or Fernando Vargas defeats his promotional
partner
Shane Mosley in July. There are potential difficulties with this scenario because
making a fight with Vargas or Wright meeting the target date in September would
be an arduous task.
Whether or not Vargas or Wright win and want the fight with De La Hoya, it
may be difficult for them to train properly in order to make the September
date. The other problem is giving the promoters enough time to properly promote
the pay-per-view, the likely the last of De La Hoya’s career. At the
end of the day I expect the dream match of De La Hoya and Mayweather to take
place because there is entirely too much money involved and because the people
want it.
As for a prediction on who I think will be holding up his gloves in victory,
I have no idea. Stay tuned.
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