Saturday night history was made in the boxing world as Bernard Hopkins recorded his 19th official defense of the Middleweight title surpassing the great Marvelous Marvin Hagler's record, via ninth round KO. Hopkins caught De la Hoya with a liver shot that crippled him and left him down on the canvas pounding the mat in disbelief, as for the first time in his illustrious career he would not make it to the final bell. Oscar de la Hoya fell short of making history himself when he failed to capture world titles in seven different weight classes.

Early on, the fight was nothing like I had envisioned, it actually was the reverse of what I thought it would be, with  De la Hoya pressing forward and Hopkins back peddling throughout the first six rounds. The first six rounds were very hard to score, as neither guy did anything spectacular to set himself apart from the other. This certainly was no Hagler vs Hearns, no Hagler vs Leonard either. Both guys fought with extreme caution. Neither man looking as though he was willing to take the necessary risk(s) to make it a great fight. Through the first six rounds I saw the fight even.

Things started to changed in the seventh round as Hopkins, the bigger and stronger man, started to impose his will on his opponent. Oscar would occasionally land some pitty-pat combinations, that had no conviction at all. It was as though De la Hoya was going into survival mode rather than the 'I still think I got a chance at winning' mode.

The next two rounds went clearly to Hopkins. The ninth round was still kind of lackluster, when out of nowhere Hopkins delivered a shot around Oscar's elbow, to the liver, that dropped De la Hoya and he was unable to get up. As I sat in the crowd many people were screaming "fix."

Let me say this, anyone who has been in the ring before knows that this can happen to any fighter, no matter who he may be. If that shot is placed in the right spot, your body will shut down, just as De la Hoya's did. If you've never been in the ring, well, there will never be a way of convincing you that what happened in the ring on Saturday night was real.

I only express this sentiment because as I was walking out of the crowded arena, I ran into a woman who was screaming at the top of her lungs that the fight was fixed and that Oscar was a punk, and she was totally annoying everyone within ear's reach of her. I politely asked her had she ever fought in the ring before? Her reply was no. I said nothing else to her. She looked at me wanting to elaborate more but I continued my walk through the crowd, trying my best to get far enough away from her as to not hear all the negative comments she was expressing.

As a fighter I know how tough it is to be in that ring on any given night. Oscar de la Hoya has given the boxing world many thrills throughout his career and now because he can't get to his feet after being hit by a liver shot, he is a punk and the fight was fixed? How soon we forget. Let's appreciate these guys while we have them because of course one day their careers will be over. There maybe a fighter that comes along to surpass them all but then again maybe not. The two fighters in the ring Saturday night are already Hall of Famers for sure and their achievements will be extremely hard to match, let alone surpass.

I guess I'm hoping that this story reaches that someone who always looks for the bad in the sport... Remember that these men work hard to entertain their fans, putting their lives at risk each and every single time they step through those ropes. Don't point the finger at some fighter because you lost your money betting on them or because you feel that this fighter needs to get beaten to a pulp to prove to you that he is really hurt. Enough said... And Still!