Has the “Golden Boy” Tainted His Legacy?

I really don’t know what to make of this situation, but it is just crazy. This matter truly befuddles me and if I didn’t comment on it, I wouldn’t be true to myself. One can never accuse Oscar de la Hoya of ducking anyone. This man has fought nothing but the best, check his resume: Pernell Whitaker, Ike Quartey, Tito Trinidad, Fernando Vargas, Shane Mosley twice, and just

recently Bernard Hopkins was added to the list. I mean this is a real who’s who of boxing’s elite. However, for some strange reason he never received the adulation of the boxing public and most importantly, his people. For example, writer Michael Katz calls him “chicken” De La Hoya, and the Mexican fans don’t want to claim him as being one of their own. Often I would find myself in arguments with a few of my Mexican comrades, over how “sick” De La Hoya was, their rebuttal was that he didn’t fit the typical description of your quintessential Mexican fighter. You know the kind that I am talking about, one that makes every fight into a slugfest. For example, Erik Morales and Fernando Vargas are but two of many. But who cares, in my eyes, I’d say that the name of the game is to hit and not be hit. Whenever anyone asked me how I felt about De La Hoya’s unwillingness to slug it out more often with some of the bigger punchers, my response was that he is smart. To me he was doing what he had to do to make sure he has a career after he was done boxing, meaning starring in commercials, making movies, and getting huge endorsement deals. You get the idea.

I used to stick up for this man like no other. I am one of the few Puerto Ricans that will actually admit that he beat Trinidad. Trust me, you won’t find too many of these. Now that we are on the subject, De La Hoya didn’t run the last four rounds, it was the last two. I saw the fight recently; if you don’t believe me you can go to the videotape to see what I am talking about. But what I saw on September 18 2004, made me reconsider taking back all of the praise I had given Oscar. On September 18, the “Golden Boy” put his future, pound-for-pound ranking, as well as his legacy on the line against “pound-for-pound” king Bernard Hopkins. Although many feel that Oscar was there because of a gift decision to Felix Sturm, it was imperative that the fight for the middleweight title took place. Whatever the case may be, this was the fight that the boxing public requested to see, and it was the only fight that could generate the kind of revenue that the “powers that be” were looking for.

In a fight that had De La Hoya as a 2-1 underdog, I figured that Oscar was the best bet to win. I went with the Golden Boy for two reasons: one, he had his back against the wall. This truly was a must-win situation, considering he came off such a sloppy performance against Sturm in his previous bout. The second thing was, if Oscar was fighting Hopkins, it was because he saw something in him that would make him think he could beat Bernard.

This fight had the makings of Hagler-Leonard: it did fall short of those expectations, however it was a decent fight. From the second the bell rang, the size difference was so obvious that a blind person could have seen it. This was the biggest payday for both fighters. Bernard was making ten million plus incentives that included the pay-per-view buys. So give or take twelve million for the “Executioner.” De La Hoya was making thirty million; the champion always gets a bigger share of the jackpot. However, the difference here was that Oscar was the challenger. Now you can see why the pay-per-view was almost sixty dollars. In all my years of watching boxing, I never heard of a challenger making more than double the amount of the champion. An astronomical figure such as the one I mentioned before should have been a red flag to me. I believe that some of the tactics that might have gone down behind the scenes were not completely ethical.

In what was a very competitive fight, De La Hoya became the third person in ten years to win more than three rounds on the official scorecards against Bernard Hopkins (The other two were Segundo Mercado and Syd Vanderpool). Oscar did his thing and he had his moments; in fact, he fought Bernard a lot smarter than Felix Trinidad did. Going into the seventh round, I had the fight even at 57-57. But after the seventh, there was a significant change of pace. It was clear to see that Hopkins had De La Hoya figured out, and it was just a matter of time before the Golden Boy was executed.

What I witnessed in that ninth round, had me thinking that something wasn’t too kosher, if you get my drift. I just couldn’t point it out, because I didn’t know what it was at the time. To see Oscar get knocked out as a result of a delayed reaction from a body shot that wasn’t even thrown hard was very suspicious. We saw De La Hoya take harder shots from “Sugar” Shane and Felix Sturm previously. In fact, in the second fight against Mosley in the later rounds Shane hurt De La Hoya with a vicious right hook to the body. At no point did Oscar go down. And yet, the Golden Boy went down to this “tremendous” liver shot. I don’t buy it for a second.

On a live telecast of Friday Night Fights, fight analyst and former trainer Teddy Atlas refuted the claim. He clearly stated that a liver shot is placed on the left side of the body. De La Hoya was hit on the right side, and there was no “pop” when the punch landed. A well-placed liver shot, makes a thumping noise. A great example of such a punch was when Arturo Gatti knocked Leonard Dorin out. That was a legitimate liver shot. It was thrown hard, it landed on the left side of the body and there was a popping sound when it landed. According to Teddy Atlas, nine out of ten times you go down from a liver shot, that’s on the money.

As if the chain of events weren’t hard enough to keep track of, things got a lot stranger as the hourglass turned. In a move questioned by many, Oscar and Bernard became business partners. De La Hoya recruited him as the president of the east coast for Golden Boy Promotions. That leads me to believe one of two things. One, that De La Hoya and Bernard were in on this plan together, or the other possibility which is the one I am leaning towards, is that he knew he was going to lose, so to prevent further damage or risk injury, he quit, and collected his enormous purse.

From the start, De La Hoya was supposed to lose the Hopkins fight. By him losing, I guess he thought no one would question his integrity. But that’s where I come in, I am questioning it. I mean, I should give Oscar the benefit of the doubt, because to me he has always been someone that has cared about his legacy. But should I really? The facts are on the table and its out in the open. C’mon my people let me know what you’re really thinking out there. Don’t be afraid to drop me an e-mail, I’d love to hear from y’all. It’s always a pleasure! “Stay real.”

Edwin Gonzalez can be reached at prpapa427@aol.com