DE LA HOYA SCHOOLS MOSLEY BUT LOSES THE DECISION
Time for De La Hoya to retire… Maybe
By Blackbull
Inside Boxing Writer/Columnist
Las Vegas, Nevada, (Inside Boxing, September 14, 2003) – Oscar De La Hoya had a plan for Mosley, his plan was to neutralize Shane Mosley’s speed. De La Hoya’s plan may have worked in the ring but not with the judges as they award the contest by unanimous decision to Mosley.
It was obvious his plan was to work his jab and deliver combinations off the jab. The plan worked more or less to perfection as Mosley could only follow De La Hoya in hopes he would make a mistake. De La Hoya was connecting 2-3 punches to every 1 Mosley would land.
By the 7th round I had only given Mosely the 4th round, that’s when Mosely and De La Hoya clashed heads opening a cut on the side of De La Hoya’s right eye. De La Hoya then seemed to lose his composure and was getting caught by Mosley’s aggressiveness and quick counter punching.
De La Hoya would regain his composure and continue the next round where he left off, throwing punches with precision.
In analyzing rounds 8-12, lets try and figure out if Mosley even had a chance at winning this fight by decision. I’ve already said going into the 7th round I felt Mosley had won only 1 round, giving De La Hoya the 7th round as well I had De La Hoya with a commanding lead starting the 8th round.
Round 8 was pretty close and could have gone to either fighter, being from the old school where I believe you have to take the title from the champ, I give this round to De La Hoya. For the sake of argument let’s give the round to Mosley. At this point, 6 rounds to 2 in favor of De La Hoya.
Round 9 I gave to Mosley, I felt he applied the pressure and scored well. 6 rounds to 3 in favor of De La Hoya.
Rounds ten and eleven, although the pace slowing, De La Hoya still out scored Mosley. However with Mosley having a good round in the 9th, I can see where the tenth round could have been swayed to Mosley. Giving the tenth round to Mosley we would now stand at 7 rounds to 4 in favor of De La Hoya.
The twelth and final round clearly went to Mosley, De La Hoya started the round strong but quickly faded do to Mosley’s urgency to get a knock out.
End results 7 rounds to 5 in favor of De La Hoya.
A good fight and in my opinion (which means nothing as far as being official) De La Hoya simply won a good and competitive fight.
How could judges possibly award this contest to Mosley? I’ll get to that a little later.
In under-card action, former lightweight world champion Stevie Johnston lost to a busier Juan Lazcano. Lazcano kept bringing the action to Johnston and had Johnston fighting off the ropes for much of the contest.
Lazcano stops Johnston in the eleventh round as Johnston’s corner steps in to end the fight.
This fight was very important to both fighters as the victor would be placed as the #1 contender and would get a shot at Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s Title.
Stopping the fight by Johnston’s corner is a little puzzling when you think about the significance of the fight. Johnston was hurt in the eleventh round but seemed he would survive the round. Plus the fact that Lazcano had been penalized twice for low blows, one more low blow and Lazcano would have been disqualified. Plus with the point deductions the fight still had to be close.
Miguel Cotto won the WBC International light weight title by stopping Demetrio Ceballos in 7. Cotto did not have the luxury of setting and delivering his devastating punches because Ceballos continued to move forward and press the action. Although pressing the action, Cotto still was out pointing Ceballos and should have had a comfortable lead at the time Ceballos gave up and quit.
Over all, boxing fans were treated to a good evening of professional boxing. Although the outcome of the De La Hoya vs. Mosley was a controversial one, it was a good fight.
Now, how and why do we have so many bad decisions in professional boxing? A bad decision such as this one is not uncommon in boxing, it happens all the time, even on club level shows.
Stopping short of crying “conspiracy” I will say I believe the bad decisions are guided, based on “influence” from the powers to be in boxing. Officials come into town and during the meetings and gatherings for preparation of a fight, have plenty of time to “get the feel” of the controllers of boxing. And who knows what is said behind closed doors.
In my opinion, I believe the hierarchies of boxing despise De La Hoya because of his success in the sport and ability to command the top level dollars. De La Hoya does not and will not succumb to the people who control boxing, he commands respect and this irks the hell out of them.
So, did the people who control boxing hurt De La Hoya by denying him victory and redemption? Mentally, yes.
Although the majority and unbiased boxing fans know De La Hoya won the fight, he was still denied the victory on paper.
The last thing De La Hoya needs to do is retire, this would give the controllers of boxing a huge victory and would only promote more misconduct within boxing. De La Hoya needs to take a little time off, come back with a mega fight against the likes of Vernon Forrest, Ricardo Mayorga, Bernard Hopkins, Winky Wright or any other top contender. This fight should be held without any boxing organization’s titles denying them of any sanctioning fees and should not be held in Las Vegas.
I guarantee boxing fans would rather see and pay for a fight like this rather than see Mosley defend his title against… anyone.
Moncayo Blackbull can be reached at blackbull@insideboxing.com
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