De La Hoya Tuned up

Last night the Golden Boy honed his skills against the over-matched Steve 2 Pound Forbes.  If it were a movie script, there were very few moments in which the fight failed to follow the plot-line that the writers would have intended,  for the most part we all witnessed what was expected.

Forbes, fighting up in weight and giving three inches in height and arm length, gave De La Hoya everything he could muster.  Although losing every round but two (by my count) Forbes was absorbing some of Oscar's best shots and never really found him self in any danger of being KO'd. This could be either a testament to Forbe's tough chin or the fading power of the Golden Boy's once devastating left hook.  With that said, De La Hoya did look faster and more agile than we have seen in years.  But it is time to face reality.  

In this decade De La Hoya has done two notable things:

1.) He has become the most popular boxer of his era, transcending the sport as we know it; a boxer and a business mogul   2.) He has lost nearly every major fight in which he faced a top opponent.  

De La Hoya is not the fighter he used to be or maybe ever was.  It is possible that his immense popularity coupled with a few signature wins have led both

the boxing media and the general public to rank him higher than his abilities would suggest. Since 1999, he has suffered defeat at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr., Felix Trinidad, twice by Shane Mosley, was KO'd by Bernard Hopkins, and we can consider his fight with the previously undefeated Felix Sturm a loss as well, because it seemed as though the only reason he was given the decision was due to the Golden Boy's impending super-fight already scheduled for the coming months with Hopkins.  Which leads me to a point... tune-up fights.  

The excitement (or lack there of) leading up to this fight and others like them recalls memories of how I felt when I was sitting in bumper to bumper traffic, driving to my great aunt and uncle's to have dinner at one of California's finest barbecue chains (which actually isn't that bad except for the fact that every time I visit they tell me I have to try this new place to eat - I think they forget that they have taken me there the last three times.) That bad. 

Let face it, nothing short of knocking De La Hoya cold through the ropes would have propelled Steve Forbes to a victory last night.  There are hundreds of millions of dollars that would not have been spent and subsequently made if The Golden Boy lost the bout.  For instance, two months ago I happened to catch a glimpse of a not yet released fight poster (I may or may not be fairly close with the artist) depicting an illustration of Mayweather and De La Hoya for a promotion waiting to be distributed by a major company.  Two months ago!  The contract for the fight has yet to be officially signed and sanctioned, yet these people are making posters. That sheds some light on how this fight was going to turn out from the start, no matter what happened. Not cool.  

Last but not least, I found it very interesting to watch The Golden Boy's selection process for his opponent in this fight.  He seemed to be searching for small, quick, intelligent boxers to simulate a fight between his upcoming adversary.  After tossing around many names, he narrowed it down to three, one of them being the junior welterweight IBF champion, Paulie Malignaggi.  Now that got me excited.  Malignaggi would have with out a doubt been a perfect simulation of Mayweather's style. Such a close simulation in fact, it would have been too close to the real thing and  The Golden Boy would have found a big L next to his name after the final bell.

Of course Oscar's intelligence and business savvy prevailed once again, and now instead of watching a truly great fight (Malignaggi vs. De La Hoya) with a chance of a De La Hoya loss that would create the possiblity for Mayweather to have take on a different fighter (say Miguel Cotto), we are now subjected to two fights that (I think it is safe to say) you and I could have done without.