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• I have said and written many times that we should enjoy Oscar De La Hoya because someday he would be gone from the ring. Now he is, so I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did. Here are a few more thoughts on the Golden Boy's career in the wake of his retirement earlier this week:
There has always been much debate about the outcome of some of De La Hoya's fights. For the record, I thought he was robbed against Felix Trinidad and in the rematch with Shane Mosley. I thought he got a gift against Felix Sturm. And I thought that the judges got it right in his fights with Pernell Whitaker and Ike Quartey.
I think the best De La Hoya ever looked was in his 1996 first fight with Julio Cesar Chavez, whom he stopped in the fourth round to win the junior welterweight championship. The De La Hoya who fought that night was about as perfect as he would ever be in his career.
The biggest victory of De La Hoya's career to me was his 11th-round knockout of steroid-enhanced Fernando Vargas in 2002. It was a terrific fight in which De La Hoya survived some rocky moments against a bigger, stronger man and came back for the ultra-satisfying knockout victory in a grudge match. It was one of the most electric nights I've ever had at ringside and the call HBO's Jim Lampley made at the end of that fight is an all-time great one.
De La Hoya's sixth-round knockout of Ricardo Mayorga in 2006 to win a junior middleweight belt (his final pro title) was also a really exciting performance, even though Mayorga was made to order for him.
Even though De La Hoya was stopped by a body shot from then-undisputed middleweight champ Bernard Hopkins in 2004 and lost a split decision to then-pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2007, both of which took place when he was way past his best, he deserves credit for his better-than-expected performances. I didn't think he had a prayer to win either bout, but he gave the much bigger Hopkins one of his toughest fights until the knockout and performed well against Mayweather, who was the best fighter in the world when they met.
De La Hoya deserves more credit than he gets for several of his wins, including the ones against Miguel Angel Gonzalez (1997), Genaro Hernandez (1995) and Rafael Ruelas (1995).
De La Hoya easily outpointed Gonzalez in his only junior welterweight title defense. Gonzalez was 41-0 and a former lightweight titleholder when they met. He was considered an extremely dangerous opponent and perhaps on the verge of greatness in his own right. De La Hoya took him apart.
Hernandez was 32-0-1 and had been a well-respected junior lightweight titleholder when he challenged for De La Hoya's lightweight belt. De La Hoya also took him apart, badly breaking his nose and forcing him to quit in the sixth round. Ultimately, Hernandez lost only twice in his career -- to De La Hoya and in his final fight when he lost the junior lightweight title to Mayweather.
Ruelas was a strong puncher who was 43-1 when they met in a battle of Southern California rivals. Lots of people were picking Ruelas. De La Hoya annihilated him in two rounds.
It's unfortunate that so many people rag on De La Hoya because he lost some fights over the final few years of his career. Those are the same people are who absolutely clueless about all the quality victories he rang up before the Trinidad fight.
• Hey, at least when Evangelista Cotto threw a cement brick at his nephew, Miguel Cotto, he didn't try to cover it up with gauze, tape and a boxing glove.
• Speaking of Antonio Margarito, if he's so innocent in the whole plaster of Paris hand wrap scandal wouldn't you think he'd be upset with his trainer, Javier Capetillo, who wrapped his hands with the illegal substance and got him into this mess? You'd think so, yet Margarito hasn't fired Capetillo or said one thing against him. Sure, Margarito didn't know. Uh huh.
• Do yourself a favor and catch a replay of this month's episode of HBO's "Real Sports." The profile of Anne Wolfe, the openly gay former women's champion now training rising star James Kirkland, is riveting. Reporter Andrea Kremer's piece is Emmy-worthy. Frankly, I wished it was longer.
• There are some of us (guilty as charged) who have gotten on HBO's case for passing on the Carl Froch-Jermain Taylor fight and praised Showtime for buying the April 25 super middleweight title bout. Regardless of which network is airing it, at least boxing fans in the United States can watch what I think is going to be an excellent fight. Here's the real shocker, however. It is not being televised in Froch's native England, which is absolutely mind-boggling. Most of Froch's fights have been televised in his home country, which has at least three networks that regularly televise boxing these days (Sky Sports, Setanta and ITV). Yet when Froch crosses the pond for the biggest fight of his career for his first title defense against a big-name opponent, nobody is going to show it. For shame.
• As always, I really enjoy HBO's "24/7." Last week's debut episode of the four-part series counting down to the Ricky Hatton-Manny Pacquiao fight really got me excited for May 2. HBO's producers are second to none when it comes to boxing. But just one thing: Did I really need the extended look at Hatton wearing a thong? Let's just hope in Saturday night's second episode there is no scene of Freddie Roach or Floyd Mayweather Sr. getting massages.
• Top Rank is trying to put together a fight for its July 25 "Latin Fury" pay-per-view card between lightweight titlist Edwin Valero and Amir Khan destroyer Breidis Prescott. I love it.
• As much as I love the proposed Valero-Prescott fight, the best fight of the summer is July 11 on Showtime when bantamweight titlist Joseph "King Kong" Agbeko faces junior bantamweight champion Vic Darchinyan. Can you say classic waiting to happen?
• Before Yuriorkis Gamboa's bout with Jesus Rojas on "ShoBox" on Friday night he said, "Fighting for a world title in my 15th fight is very exciting, but I always had a dream, a goal, to fight for the title within two years of turning pro and it is almost two years exactly." Too bad the title Gamboa is fighting for is nothing but a cheap knockoff that means little. He's fighting for the pointless WBA interim featherweight belt, a strap made available only because the organization wants the sanction fee and couldn't care less about anything else. Last time I checked, Chris John owned the title, was not injured and was active. So, of course, the WBA sanctioned an interim title bout. Gamboa is an electrifying young talent, but if he and his people really believe he's a champion if he wins the fight, they're insane.
• OK, so what big name from welterweight to middleweight is going to step up and fight Paul Williams? A show of hands? Nobody. That's what I thought.
• I'm pretty psyched to see the Andre Ward-Edison Miranda fight on May 16.
• Now, I'm not fan of the avalanche of bogus world titles and other such nonsense, but one thing I do think is kind of cool are the state titles. They can effectively be used to get a local boxing community behind an event while not making the fight look as though it is some huge match. So even though I'm not all that familiar with Daniel Sostre or Tommy Rainone, I found myself at least slightly intrigued when I read a news release from promoter Bob Duffy about their May 8 fight in Plainview, N.Y., in which Sostre will defend the New York State welterweight title in an eight-rounder.
• DVD pick of the week: This one never gets old, even 24 years after the fact. Marvelous Marvin Hagler's third-round knockout of Thomas Hearns in Las Vegas to retain the middleweight championship on April 15, 1985, remains one of the great fights of all time. It was pure action from start to finish. The first round alone was as exciting as boxing can ever possibly get. The fight is short, so I will confess: I watched it three times in one sitting.
• I have said and written many times that we should enjoy Oscar De La Hoya because someday he would be gone from the ring. Now he is, so I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did. Here are a few more thoughts on the Golden Boy's career in the wake of his retirement earlier this week:
There has always been much debate about the outcome of some of De La Hoya's fights. For the record, I thought he was robbed against Felix Trinidad and in the rematch with Shane Mosley. I thought he got a gift against Felix Sturm. And I thought that the judges got it right in his fights with Pernell Whitaker and Ike Quartey.
I think the best De La Hoya ever looked was in his 1996 first fight with Julio Cesar Chavez, whom he stopped in the fourth round to win the junior welterweight championship. The De La Hoya who fought that night was about as perfect as he would ever be in his career.
The biggest victory of De La Hoya's career to me was his 11th-round knockout of steroid-enhanced Fernando Vargas in 2002. It was a terrific fight in which De La Hoya survived some rocky moments against a bigger, stronger man and came back for the ultra-satisfying knockout victory in a grudge match. It was one of the most electric nights I've ever had at ringside and the call HBO's Jim Lampley made at the end of that fight is an all-time great one.
De La Hoya's sixth-round knockout of Ricardo Mayorga in 2006 to win a junior middleweight belt (his final pro title) was also a really exciting performance, even though Mayorga was made to order for him.
Even though De La Hoya was stopped by a body shot from then-undisputed middleweight champ Bernard Hopkins in 2004 and lost a split decision to then-pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2007, both of which took place when he was way past his best, he deserves credit for his better-than-expected performances. I didn't think he had a prayer to win either bout, but he gave the much bigger Hopkins one of his toughest fights until the knockout and performed well against Mayweather, who was the best fighter in the world when they met.
De La Hoya deserves more credit than he gets for several of his wins, including the ones against Miguel Angel Gonzalez (1997), Genaro Hernandez (1995) and Rafael Ruelas (1995).
De La Hoya easily outpointed Gonzalez in his only junior welterweight title defense. Gonzalez was 41-0 and a former lightweight titleholder when they met. He was considered an extremely dangerous opponent and perhaps on the verge of greatness in his own right. De La Hoya took him apart.
Hernandez was 32-0-1 and had been a well-respected junior lightweight titleholder when he challenged for De La Hoya's lightweight belt. De La Hoya also took him apart, badly breaking his nose and forcing him to quit in the sixth round. Ultimately, Hernandez lost only twice in his career -- to De La Hoya and in his final fight when he lost the junior lightweight title to Mayweather.
Ruelas was a strong puncher who was 43-1 when they met in a battle of Southern California rivals. Lots of people were picking Ruelas. De La Hoya annihilated him in two rounds.
It's unfortunate that so many people rag on De La Hoya because he lost some fights over the final few years of his career. Those are the same people are who absolutely clueless about all the quality victories he rang up before the Trinidad fight.
• Hey, at least when Evangelista Cotto threw a cement brick at his nephew, Miguel Cotto, he didn't try to cover it up with gauze, tape and a boxing glove.
• Speaking of Antonio Margarito, if he's so innocent in the whole plaster of Paris hand wrap scandal wouldn't you think he'd be upset with his trainer, Javier Capetillo, who wrapped his hands with the illegal substance and got him into this mess? You'd think so, yet Margarito hasn't fired Capetillo or said one thing against him. Sure, Margarito didn't know. Uh huh.
• Do yourself a favor and catch a replay of this month's episode of HBO's "Real Sports." The profile of Anne Wolfe, the openly gay former women's champion now training rising star James Kirkland, is riveting. Reporter Andrea Kremer's piece is Emmy-worthy. Frankly, I wished it was longer.
• There are some of us (guilty as charged) who have gotten on HBO's case for passing on the Carl Froch-Jermain Taylor fight and praised Showtime for buying the April 25 super middleweight title bout. Regardless of which network is airing it, at least boxing fans in the United States can watch what I think is going to be an excellent fight. Here's the real shocker, however. It is not being televised in Froch's native England, which is absolutely mind-boggling. Most of Froch's fights have been televised in his home country, which has at least three networks that regularly televise boxing these days (Sky Sports, Setanta and ITV). Yet when Froch crosses the pond for the biggest fight of his career for his first title defense against a big-name opponent, nobody is going to show it. For shame.
• As always, I really enjoy HBO's "24/7." Last week's debut episode of the four-part series counting down to the Ricky Hatton-Manny Pacquiao fight really got me excited for May 2. HBO's producers are second to none when it comes to boxing. But just one thing: Did I really need the extended look at Hatton wearing a thong? Let's just hope in Saturday night's second episode there is no scene of Freddie Roach or Floyd Mayweather Sr. getting massages.
• Top Rank is trying to put together a fight for its July 25 "Latin Fury" pay-per-view card between lightweight titlist Edwin Valero and Amir Khan destroyer Breidis Prescott. I love it.
• As much as I love the proposed Valero-Prescott fight, the best fight of the summer is July 11 on Showtime when bantamweight titlist Joseph "King Kong" Agbeko faces junior bantamweight champion Vic Darchinyan. Can you say classic waiting to happen?
• Before Yuriorkis Gamboa's bout with Jesus Rojas on "ShoBox" on Friday night he said, "Fighting for a world title in my 15th fight is very exciting, but I always had a dream, a goal, to fight for the title within two years of turning pro and it is almost two years exactly." Too bad the title Gamboa is fighting for is nothing but a cheap knockoff that means little. He's fighting for the pointless WBA interim featherweight belt, a strap made available only because the organization wants the sanction fee and couldn't care less about anything else. Last time I checked, Chris John owned the title, was not injured and was active. So, of course, the WBA sanctioned an interim title bout. Gamboa is an electrifying young talent, but if he and his people really believe he's a champion if he wins the fight, they're insane.
• OK, so what big name from welterweight to middleweight is going to step up and fight Paul Williams? A show of hands? Nobody. That's what I thought.
• I'm pretty psyched to see the Andre Ward-Edison Miranda fight on May 16.
• Now, I'm not fan of the avalanche of bogus world titles and other such nonsense, but one thing I do think is kind of cool are the state titles. They can effectively be used to get a local boxing community behind an event while not making the fight look as though it is some huge match. So even though I'm not all that familiar with Daniel Sostre or Tommy Rainone, I found myself at least slightly intrigued when I read a news release from promoter Bob Duffy about their May 8 fight in Plainview, N.Y., in which Sostre will defend the New York State welterweight title in an eight-rounder.
• DVD pick of the week: This one never gets old, even 24 years after the fact. Marvelous Marvin Hagler's third-round knockout of Thomas Hearns in Las Vegas to retain the middleweight championship on April 15, 1985, remains one of the great fights of all time. It was pure action from start to finish. The first round alone was as exciting as boxing can ever possibly get. The fight is short, so I will confess: I watched it three times in one sitting.
Either that or perhaps Ult was just being Ult and therefore ignored
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