As I predicted in a previous post, "Pretty Boy" Floyd Mayweather, Jr. was simply too good for the "Golden Boy." Youth, speed and overall ring generalship carried the day for Mayweather who captured his sixth belt in his fifth different weight class. Although De La Hoya showed why he is still a world-class fighter, the outcome of this fight pretty much fell in line with what most boxing experts and scribes foresaw – De La Hoya causing Mayweather some problems early, but fading down the stretch. And that’s precisely what happened.
Oscar De La Hoya started fast. Over the first third of the fight, he seemed to puzzle Mayweather with an assortment of precision jabs and unpredictable flurries when both men clinched. Floyd parried many of Oscar’s blows and returned fire with well-placed counter right hands and "Roy Jones-esque" lead left hooks. However, after four rounds, the fight was even.
For what it lacked in "blood-and-guts," De La Hoya-Mayweather made up for in terms of "mental warfare." To the casual fan, the action that proceeded from rounds 5-8 may have not been the most exciting, but for those "sweet science" aficionados this matchup was the proverbial chess match. One round De La Hoya controlled the pace with his effective aggression and steady left jab, then Mayweather would wrest control the next round with his leaping left hooks, counter right hands, and impregnable defense.
Entering the championship rounds (9-12) the fight was still very close. Like many times before, and as the entire Mayweather camp had predicted during the pre-fight hype, the tide turned in the late rounds. Unfortunately for Oscar De La Hoya, a familiar theme emerged. As he had done in past super fights (namely against Felix Trinidad, Shane Mosley, and Bernard Hopkins), the Golden Boy appeared to fatigue and break down technique-wise as the fight wore on.
This small window of opportunity was all a sharp-shooter like the Pretty Boy needed. Perhaps sensing the urgency of a looming decision loss or noticing De La Hoya breathing heavily with minimal head movement, Mayweather started to pot-shot Oscar with straight right hands, cuffing left hooks and well-timed body shots more often than before. Rounds 9-11 were a personal showcase for Mayweather’s hand speed, but especially his stamina, as it appeared that he and De La Hoya were fighting on two different sets of reserves.
When it was all said in done, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. controlled the final rounds of the fight and left Oscar De La Hoya to ponder what if? Specifically, what if Oscar had gone for broke early when Mayweather appeared uncharacteristically passive? What if he had not abandoned his jab late in the fight, when it had stymied Mayweather earlier in the bout? However, we must not ignore that these "ifs" were largely caused by Mayweather’s fistic brilliance. Mayweather was a master of distance and pinpoint counter-punching that has now left 38 victims (De La Hoya being the latest) in his wake.
The only question left is whether that number will increase or not – given Floyd’s insistence that this will be the final fight of his career. I have a sneaking suspicion that 38 will not be a magic number. To borrow the slogan used during the fight’s super-sized promotional campaign, "the world awaits" Floyd’s decision.
The Golden Boy was robbed big time!Mayweather wasn’t prepared for Hoya. What fight were you watching?
Marc Damon O’Neal
No robbery here my friend, Mayweather landed more punches, controlled the pace of the fight, and clearly controlled the “championship rounds (9-12)” when the fight was hanging in the balance. Mayweather 8 rounds – De La Hoya 4.
I disagree with mayweather winning this fight. If dela hoya didn’t win then it should’ve been a draw. Mayweather did not win that fight. In the early rounds when dela hoya was doin his thing….there were rounds that were given to mayweather that he shouldn’t have gotten. Even Floyd Sr. said it – if the judges were counting how many hits made contact then dela hoya should’ve won. His own father said it. Granted him and his son aren’t on good terms at the moment but he’s still a great trainer and it was obvious that dela hoya should’ve won. Now homeboy is talking about retiring? Everyone is going to want to see a re-match on this because floyd did not conquer dela hoya like he said he would do. He slept on dela hoya and is now afraid that he just might lose his belts. He’s going to go out like lenox lewis….after klitchko almost won that fight and the only reason why he didn’t win was because they stopped the fight against his will – lewis wants to retire. Why? because he almost lost. Mayweather should give dela hoya a rematch fight and if he doesn’t and retires like he said he was going to do…..then that tells me alot!!
I have to respectfully disagree with your assessments. Just because Oscar De La Hoya was busy and throwing punches did not mean that he was overly effective. I think the scoring was MORE than generous in his favor. Most ring experts had him losing 7-5 or 8-4, in rounds. The punch stats were overwhelming in Mayweather’s favor – underscoring the fact that the judges were right in not overrating Oscar’s often “off-the-mark” blows. And to make matters worse, Oscar, as he always does, basically slowed down in rounds 9-12 when the fight was still hanging in the balance. This fact, more than anything, is the reason why he failed in my opinion.
Regarding Mayweather’s retirement, he was talking about it AFTER the Carlos Baldomir fight, so this was no surprise. And now that the PPV numbers come in, believe me, he’d GLADLY fight Oscar again. Regarding Lennox, although he did have problems with Vitali (although he did practically rearrange his face), he had talked about that being his last fight as well. Judging by his penchant for fighting all fighters of his era (Holyfield (2x), Tyson, Mercer (who nearly everyone avoided like the flue), Bruno, McCall (2x), Golota, Grant, Briggs, and others), I seriously doubt he was scared of anyone. Now, I would have made Vitali a VERY live underdog in their rematch, but I do not feel Lennox was scared at all. He went out on top, and didn’t let his ego get in the way (as many feel Roy Jones, Jr. did after his first victory over Tarver…which should have been his swan song).