HOPKINS WAS TOO MUCH OF A MOUNTAIN FOR DE LA HOYA TO CLIMB – KO’S OSCAR IN 9
By Ron Brashear
Inside Boxing Writer/Columnist

Las Vegas, NV (IB – September 18, 2004) – In front of a packed crowd on hand at the MGM Grand garden, with millions watching around the world, it was Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins (45-2-1, 1 NC, 32KOs) who proved to be too much for “Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya (37-4, 29 KOs) for the undisputed Middleweight Championship of the World.

To the surprise of many, De La Hoya was the one who came out early in the fight dictating the pace and being the more effective aggressor against Bernard Hopkins. This form of attack seemed to have put Hopkins in a more apprehensive state of mind and Bernard began settling for one punch at a time vs. punching in combinations. He was actually trying to outbox the boxer. However, after three rounds, it was becoming evident as the rounds were ticking bye that Oscar’s punches, which were landing more frequently, were not having a significant impact on Hopkins and Bernard began to settle into the fight as the stronger puncher. Bernard also began to pick up the pace.

About mid-way through the ninth round, Hopkins lands a left hook to the body of De La Hoya, followed by a short-left hook to the head that sent De La Hoya to the canvas. Oscar was unable to beat the count and Golden was KOed for the first time in his professional career. The official time of the stoppage was 1:38 seconds of the 9th round.

Bernard “The Executioner” brought the sold out mega fight crowd’s optimistic enthusiasm toward De La Hoya’s performance to a screeching halt and further validated his own place in boxing history. With this stoppage of De La Hoya, Bernard increased his successful title defenses to nineteen. Moreover, Hopkins now has KO victories over the top two non-heavyweight revenue generating fighters in the business today (Trinidad & De La Hoya).

What a great performance by Hopkins! Hats are off to De La Hoya for getting into tremendous shape and bringing his “A” game to the fight. However, even that wasn’t enough to fight off Bernard. In the end, Hopkins showed how valuable the art of adaptability is to the success of boxing.

Oscar has nothing to be ashamed of based on his performance. He just simply took on a mountain that was too much for him to climb. He took on the Middleweight King and a fighter that will be talked about for many years to come.

Congratulations Bernard Hopkins! You talked the talk and you walked the walk.

It would be very hard pressed for anyone not to respect and appreciate the superior boxing talent in Bernard Hopkins. Until anyone can step up and defeat this great champion, who is on the verge of having 20 successful title defenses as a Middleweight, you must acknowledge Bernard as “Pound-for-Pound” the best in the business.

You have just gone InsideBoxing.com

Ron Brashear can be contacted at brashear@insideboxing.com, ron@brasheargear.com