BraggingRightsCorner.com - Oscar de la Hoya: 'Hollywood Swinging' ... by Aladdin Freeman

-Photo Credit: Audrey Chang/BRC-

Oscar De La Hoya did exactly what a technically sound fighter should do to a fighter like Ricardo Mayorga, and that’s blow him out of the water. It doesn't hurt when the man you are facing took a horrific beating not any months ago, and then motivated you so much that you had no choice but to lay down a beating.

Oscar still has that wicked left hook and it had the defensively flawed Ricardo Mayorga looking utterly hopeless from the early moments in the 1st round. Oscar dropped him just a minute into the fight. Just about everything De La Hoya threw at Mayorga landed and it didn’t matter if Oscar worked up or down the ladder. Mayorga didn’t have an answer for any of it.

Ricardo Mayorga isn’t the same guy who beat Vernon Forrest twice a few years back. It could be the fact that he took a horrific beating at the hands of Felix Trinidad; it could be his lifestyle outside of boxing. It could be just the fact that he motivates his opponents so much that they bring it up a level in camp so they can beat the hell out of him. Whatever it is, he’s not the same fighter. However, against a sharp boxer like De La Hoya rushing in and leaving your defense in the wind will get your butt thoroughly whipped. I don’t think I can remember a guy who fought as a champion with defense as bad as Mayorga’s, who could make a case that his whole game plan was wrong for De La Hoya. Leading with a right uppercut is probably a bad idea versus most fighters, let alone one at De La Hoya’s elite level.

Oscar De La Hoya looked very sharp at 154 pounds, albeit the fighter in front of him wasn’t Bernard Hopkins, Winky Wright or Felix Trinidad. However, Jr. Middleweight is a much better division for Oscar to than middleweight. He looked in shape and even acknowledged in the post fight press conference that 160 pounds is too much for him. Also, at 154 pounds it’s much easier to get a belt instead of at middleweight where you have fighters the likes of Wright and Jermain Taylor, and 147 pounds where the pound for pound king is Floyd Mayweather Jr. Then there is the most ducked fighter in the world south of 168 pounds, Antonio Margarito, and former 140-pound champion Ricky Hatton; all are fighting at, yes, at 154 pounds.

De La Hoya had an easy time getting a belt and now he is holding all the cards because he has all the above-mentioned fighters trying to get a shot at that huge payday they’d get if they fought Oscar. Boxing is smart and it knows who its biggest cash cow is. I have to give Oscar one thing, he’s a smart businessman and he knew that a guy who’d make him look spectacular would be Ricardo Mayorga.

As always, Oscar has a cult like following, including many Hollywood stars like Sylvester Stallone, who was quoted as saying, “This is just what boxing needed and he just put boxing back on a rocking ship. Oscar is good looking and very wealthy so he didn’t need this fight, but his heart and mind needed it and he couldn’t live with the idea of not going out on his own terms. Tonight he fought with a different kind of fuel and energy and that’s what makes boxing very special because it’s all you, no team; when the bell rings it just you and your two hands.”

I almost doubled over in laughter hearing this because Oscar has never gone for the kill, Oscar had a shot fighter in the ring and he knew it. If anything, he’s always fought in a cautious way. Oscar has always been a very smart fighter who has done very well handpicking fighters to match up against and earn big paydays.

Sorry, beating the dickens out of Luis Ramon Campas, better known as Yory Boy, and now a Ricardo Mayorga, who after the fight with Felix Trinidad will never be the same fighter, doesn’t make you a big time monster in the sport. It makes you cautious and smart. Oscar does have mass appeal with a mainstream audience like no other fighter since a young Mike Tyson. I can see it... five years from now Hollywood doing a movie on his career, entitled “The Golden Boy,” and it will star Antonio Banderas.

Here is what Oscar had to say, “It was really satisfying because I did have my mind thinking that o.k., you’ve been off for 20 months, take it easy, and make sure the rust is out; but I actually felt really good. Ricardo Mayorga really motivated me. He made me train harder, and I think the plan of picking him and fighting him was a perfect one. First, he was going to make it an exciting fight and bring the best out of me and second I just felt really good tonight. I’m kind of sad it didn’t go 12 rounds but the stoppage was a good one.”

When asked if he would fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. next, De La Hoya said. “It’s not certain that I’ll fight Floyd, that’s just a name that is being thrown around out there. I have to talk to various people and we’ll see what happens. It might be the end now for me we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”

Floyd Mayweather Jr. had this to say about Oscar, the fight vs. Mayorga and the future, “Boxing is a business, and Oscar is a great businessman and I truly believe the fight will happen September 16th. I feel great. My team “Team Mayweather” and “Golden Boy Promotions” have both been talking and things happen and I believe the fight will happen.”

On De La Hoya’s performance Saturday night, Mayweather Jr. said, “Oscar looked tremendous, good combinations, great speed, unbelievable body shots and his right hand was working for him tonight real good.”

I asked Floyd Jr. about the fact that Trinidad looked great against Mayorga and then fought a guy with real skills and got beaten down, and since Oscar looked great vs. Mayorga, and Floyd has a lot of skills how did he think that’d he’d do versus Oscar. “Oscar is a guy who has been to the Olympics and won a medal, same with me. We’re two guys that have won belts in numerous divisions… we’re two of the best gentlemen in the sport; this isn’t just a fight that I want but the people in boxing as well as the casual fans want this fight to happen and I truly believe the fight will happen.”

Now that we got that out of the way, what did we learn about De La Hoya from this fight? Nothing. You want to know why? Mayorga’s overall skills were so bad that how can anyone learn from such poor performance? Trinidad did the same thing, but once he got in there with a talented tactician like Wright he suffered a complete beat down. Oscar has always been a little more of a slick boxer than Trinidad, but who knows where he really is after beating up a human punching bag? Personally, I think it’s time for Oscar to hang them up. He has achieved so much in the sport of boxing, has a beautiful wife, sleeps on a bed of cash and really doesn’t need to fight anymore to make money…so why do it?

Right now Oscar de la Hoya can ride off into the sunset and walk away on top; how many great fighters can say that? Not many. Actually, boxing icons like Ray Robinson, Marvin Haggler, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, and Roy Jones Jr. can’t say that.

5-11-2006