Thanks: 
Likes: 
Dislikes: 
DelaHoya: "I am satisfied"
www.fightnews.com
May 7, 2006
By Mike Sloan
It seems as though a year-and-a-half off from participating in a real boxing match means nothing to Oscar De La Hoya; just ask Ricardo Mayorga. De La Hoya silenced most critics by severely brutalizing and eventually stopping Mayorga in their hotly-anticipated showdown tonight inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena. De La Hoya scored an emphatic sixth round stoppage of “El Matador,” a beating so intense that Mayorga decided to skip the post-fight press conference altogether.
After a rather lengthy delay until De La Hoya finally arrived at the dais to address the hundreds of media personnel, a victorious and gleeful Golden Boy candidly spoke about his triumph over his fierce nemesis and hinted at his future inside the ring.
“I felt great tonight,” De La Hoya said. “I felt as though I was in the best shape of my life. We put in a lot of work in the gym for this fight and it paid off. I was so motivated for this fight and I wanted to prove to him and to everybody else that I was not going to back down from Ricardo Mayorga.”
When asked if he thought Mayorga was going to be taken out in the first round, Oscar was realistic.
“I knew I hit him with a perfect left hook,” he said. “But Mayorga has a lot of heart and I know he wasn’t about to quit. I knew I was going to knock him out, though. I just had to bide my time and pick him apart. He is so wild, so awkward, but my defense paid off and I was able to capitalize.”
There was a ton of pre-fight hoopla surrounding this fight and Mayorga was able to get under De La Hoya’s skin on numerous occasions. Mayorga had taunted De La Hoya’s manhood by calling him all sorts of profane names, ridiculed his family and his Mexican heritage. Mayorga also spoke badly about De La Hoya’s wife, a move that sent Oscar over the edge.
“I am very satisfied with this win,” he said. “I told him that I was going to make him pay for what he said and I did. He’s a tough guy and we were able to talk after the fight. He apologized for what he said about me, my heritage and my family and I forgave him.”
“This was one of the best of my career,” Oscar said about how high the win ranks for him personally. “I haven’t been this satisfied with a win in a long time. I never wanted to knock someone out so bad like this. It is so satisfying.”
Many members of the boxing media and most of the fans are clamoring for a De La Hoya showdown with the likes of either Floyd Mayweather, Jr. or Antonio Margarito. De La Hoya didn’t exactly say who he’d like to face, although rumors have been flying around the press conference that a date with Mayweather is tentatively set for September 16.
“I don’t know where we’ll go next,” he admitted. “I don’t plan on fighting much longer, maybe one more major fight. Who knows? Mayweather is probably the best fighter in the world, but we’ll see what happens. Margarito is great, too, but we aren’t making any decisions until we can all sit down and see what to do next. I only want the best fight available.”
 |
|
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by miles
Bookmarks