LAS VEGAS (InsideBoxing) - Oscar De LaHoya came into this fight prepared and with a sound game plan. The plan was to Stick, Move, Tag and back peddle. The plan worked a little too well for De LaHoya, throughout 9 rounds of boxing it seemed De LaHoya was in for an easy victory. At this point of the fight Trinidad may have pulled out 2 or 3 rounds in his favor. But never say never.
Confused by De LaHoya's movement and non willing to slug it out style, Trinidad continued to press and move forward never giving up. Trinidad's determination and big heart pays off as he dominates the final rounds and De LaHoya cowards and tries to back peddle his way to victory.
The first half of this fight was truly a boxing clinic for De LaHoya, striking and moving making Trinidad miss with every attempted blow. Rounds 7 thru 9 De LaHoya still had plenty of movement however, the offense starting to slow. Rounds 10, 11 and 12 were clearly dominated by Trinidad. By this time Trinidad had no fear of getting hit by De LaHoya and would continue to chase him down and connecting with flurries of punches. At one time Trinidad stood De LaHoya straight up with two solid punches to the chin. However the consensus was it was too late for Trinidad to win this fight by decision and he would need a knock out to be victorious. Punch statistics had De LaHoya landing 263 punches to Trinidad's 166.
At the end of the fight, De LaHoya is raised to his trainers shoulders celebrating victory. The decision however, goes to Trinidad. De LaHoya led on all 3 judges' score cards at the end of the 8th round, 77-75 on two and 77-76 on the third. Trinidad won the final four rounds with one judge and three of the last four on the other two judges.
After the fight, Gil Clancy said "The object of boxing is to hit the other guy and not let him hit you. We had him so far ahead that there was no way he could lose in the final rounds unless he was knocked out."
Although smiling, De LaHoya, as he hits his chest says "I'm hurt inside." "For one time, I wanted to box and show a good boxing lesson, I guess that wasn't enough for the people at ringside."
An after the fight press conference was cut short after promoter Bob Arum cut off the microphone and repeatedly told Don King to "shut up!". Of course, Don King was boasting pretty loud about his fighter, Felix Trinidad. King added, "Today, Oscar's shining star has dimmed. Oh, I'm so happy. What a day." King also told Arum he would be happy to promote a rematch, only with the purses reversed so Trinidad would get the biggest money. "That will be the day." answered Arum.
De LaHoya plans to take an immediate vacation, taking a "long time, long time" away from boxing. "I'm just very disappointed with boxing," added De LaHoya.
Maybe after his vacation, De LaHoya will realize his corner was, well pretty shitty when it came to fight instuctions in the final rounds of this fight.
-Blackbull-