Knockout Nation: De La Hoya Dominates, But Can He Beat Mayweather?

Oscar De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs) proved too strong and busy for a game Steve Forbes (33-6, 9 KOs), as the Golden Boy outworked his smaller opponent for a lopsided but competitive unanimous decision win. With a stiff jab and trademark flurries, De La Hoya was able to keep Forbes at bay while piling up points.                            Through round five, Forbes’ head was repeatedly snapped back by De La Hoya’s jab. At mid range, De La Hoya varied his combinations to the head and body in hopes of wearing the former Contender star down. Undeterred, Forbes connected with clean hooks of his own, in particular when he went inside and punched with his larger opponent. Despite Oscar’s high punch output, the more damaging and cleaner punches came early on from Forbes. A mouse under the left eye and abrasions on De La Hoya’s nose reflected these sporadic assaults.                 Over the second half of the bout De La Hoya was able to pull away due to his work rate although the majority of his combinations were not landing clean. Forbes was forced to counter in isolated spurts which were not enough to win rounds.  But in rounds eight and eleven “Two Pound” was able to land jarring uppercuts and kept Oscar aware he was in with a tough opponent.                 Final scorecards read 119-109 twice, and 120-108 all in favor of De La Hoya. In the post fight interview Oscar revealed that while the rematch with Mayweather is not finalized, he prides himself on “fighting the best” and that “I’m going to go after him because I know I can beat him.”                 HBO’s team did their best shill job to convince the buying public that De La Hoya has a chance against the Pretty Boy. Emmanuel Steward spent his time gushing over Oscar’s jab while Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant took every opportunity to remind us how De La Hoya’s stamina has improved. They have to keep it up, as it’ll take more than one telecast to erase memories of a faded De La Hoya getting easily out boxed down the stretch by Mayweather at a weight the Pound for Pound king had no business being at (154 pounds).                 Despite HBO’s efforts, the same glaring weaknesses remain that’ll sink a 35 year old De La Hoya against Money May. First, Oscar exhibited very limited head movement last Saturday. When Forbes let his hands go, he had no problem finding Oscar’s face. He was able to counter in the middle of Oscar’s combinations and also put in good work to the body. The results were a busted up Oscar as the fight progressed. Second, De La Hoya’s balance and timing still leave a lot to be desired. Oscar many times lost his balance as Forbes slipped his punches, which will prove fatal against the faster Mayweather. Finally, De La Hoya’s stamina has not magically improved, as his punch output (particularly the jab) became sloppier down the stretch.                 Unless Mayweather is severely affected by his layoff, expect another clear win for Mayweather come September. Don’t let the impending hype machine fool you regarding De La Hoya’s chances.     Dirrell Blasts Hanshaw in Redemption Bout                 After turning into a track star last year against Cutis Stevens, Andre Dirrell (15-0, 10 KOs) was trashed by every boxing observer out there. Larry Merchant went as far on air to proclaim that he’d never watch Dirrell again. Well, if the old man kept true to his word he missed an impressive and dominant win this past Friday, as Dirrell crushed Anthony Hanshaw (21-2-1, 14 KOs) in five mostly one-sided rounds on Showtime.                 Hanshaw started the fight well by crowding Dirrell against the ropes and stunning him for a missed flash knockdown. However, an angry Dirrell recovered and began bouncing sharp right and left leads off Hanshaw’s skull, showing a huge speed disparity between the two fighters. The assault continued in round three as Hanshaw was hurt by straight lefts and began holding. By round five, a visibly gun-shy Hanshaw became cannon-fodder as Direll ruined him with lightning-fast lead hooks to score an impressive stoppage.                 With the win, the young prospect redeems his name value after destroying a durable fighter who recently went the distance with Roy Jones, Jr.  Look for the TV dates to start rolling back in for the flashy super-middleweight. Calzaghe Tells Hopkins to Stop Crying   Newly crowned light-heavyweight champ Joe Calzaghe told the BBC he’s tired of Bernard Hopkins’ antics since their showdown two weeks ago. The undefeated Welshman gave his thoughts on the matter: “He should get over it. He should watch the tape and accept that he lost. There were three American judges and he still lost. I don’t need to find 100 excuses because I won. He’s a sore loser. I won the fight. I was the aggressor. I landed more punches. End of story. I don’t mind if I don’t see the guy again. To be honest, I’ve never been a Bernard Hopkins fan and never will be. You ask me about Roy Jones Jr and I’ll say I like him and love his style. I’ve got a lot of respect for him and he is a legend but Hopkins isn’t.”  Talks are expected to begin for a proposed Calzaghe-Jones bout later this year. Vazquez-Marquez IV in Talks                 In a truly sadistic turn of events, talks have begun for a proposed fourth installment between warriors Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez. Marquez won the first bout after breaking Vazquez’s nose. Vazquez bounced back to TKO Marquez in the rematch and squeak out a 1 point decision win in the classic rubber match.                 All three fights were thrilling but debilitating and brutal. They’ve fought nearly 30 grueling rounds in the span of year and deserve a break. But money talks and these two men won’t be able to generate the kind of money elsewhere that they can by beating […]