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February 2000
Each month we bring you a selection of articles from the current and past issues of BOXING MONTHLY. To buy the magazine, see our subscription or back issues pages, or use our world distribution map to find a news-stand copy. Why not use our Interactive Forum to express your own boxing comments and opinions!
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LAS VEGAS BEAT - NOWHERE TO RUN
The manner of his loss to Trinidad hurt De La Hoya’s reputation and the rebuilding process begins this month. GRAHAM HOUSTON previews a fight in which the Golden Boy promises an aggressive return |
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MADE OR HIM: Coley is expected to wilt in the heat, therefore De La Hoya
probably will be aggressive in this fight, which proves nothing
- Get Big Pic Here
we go again. Once more, Oscar De La Hoya is promising an
aggressive, hard-hitting, knockout-minded style. This is the way he says
he will fight when he meets Derrell Coley in their welterweight title
12-rounder at Madison Square Garden on 26 February.
The trouble is, we have heard it before.
Prior to his fight with Oba Carr last May, De La Hoya said: "My game
is fighting and not being scared of guys and just trying to box them.
I’ll no longer be satisfied unless I’m knocking out my opponents."
He was more or less true to his word against Carr, going toe-to-toe
and even getting his handsome features a little scuffed-up before
finally knocking out the Detroit boxer with a left hook in the 11th
round.
But then came last September’s meeting with Felix Trinidad. De La Hoya
had been hinting in the lead-up to the fight that he might make it a
boxing match, saying: "It’s time to prove something new and show people
something they haven’t seen from me before. It’s time to prove to myself
what talent I have and what boxing ability I possess."
Well, we were warned. But, really, who, could have anticipated De La
Hoya performing the way he did that night? He moved, boxed, scored
points but was too cautious by far for the fans. And then he blew the
fight by taking flight in the final three rounds.
When De La Hoya got on his bicycle in the last three rounds it was
not, in my view, for any tactical reason other than survival. He seemed
tired, Trinidad was pressing forward and it seemed that all Oscar had in
mind was getting out of the way.
Despite what he or his camp may say, the fact is that trainer Robert
Alcazar told him after the frantic back-pedalling of the 10th round that
"we don’t want no more rounds like that". But De La Hoya kept running.
I believe De La Hoya when he says he thought he had the decision in
the bag. I do not think that De La Hoya deserved to lose. But when a
fighter legs it the way De La Hoya did in the last three rounds, he can
hardly complain too much if it costs him on the scorecards.
Maybe, deep down, De La Hoya realises this, even if he will never
admit it.
And so, as he approaches the fight with Coley, the Golden Boy is once
again promising a coming-at-you style of fighting.
People just do not appreciate good boxing any more, he says. "This is
going to be an action-packed event," he vowed at the press conference in
New York to announce the fight. "I’ve changed totally my way of
thinking. I’m going to come out with such anger. If it pleases the fans,
I will go back to my old style and just duke it out."
Maybe if he had come at Trinidad with anger, not apprehension, the
result might have been different.
The Puerto Rican, although a hard hitter, looked vulnerable, almost
physically frail, in the early rounds. His appearance had ringsiders
speculating on how much he had taken out of himself making weight. But
De La Hoya did not gamble on trying for a decisive, early victory, and
his caution allowed Trinidad to pick up steam.
De La Hoya, who will be boxing 22 days after his 27th birthday, is no
longer a champion, no longer undefeated. The bout with Coley is for the
vacant International Boxing Association title, because in this day and
age it seems that every main event must have a championship billing. But
the real welterweight champ is Felix Trinidad. There are many who
believe that De La Hoya must meet Trinidad again — and beat him — to
achieve redemption for last September.
The businessman in De La Hoya might disagree, but the fighter in him
surely knows it to be true.
And so De La Hoya will duck between the ropes at the world’s most
famous arena in one of those making-a-statement type of fights.
Expectation will be in the air, as it was in his only other appearance
at the Garden, when a 16,000 crowd saw him demolish Jesse James Leija in
two rounds in December 1995.
He has said he will come out punching. The crowd — and American Home
Box Office TV viewing audience — will be expecting him to deliver.
De La Hoya is aware that his status as a warrior is a bit shaky right
now.
With a singing career blossoming (aimed principally at an adoring
Hispanic female market) and his yuppie lifestyle, De La Hoya has seemed
to be moving from his boxing roots. A second sexual assault allegation
in December did not improve his image, if only because he again found
himself essentially in a "my-word-against-hers" situation with a
teenaged woman.
But there is no disputing De La Hoya’s talent, or his punching power.
One debatable loss in 32 fights (25 KOs) — and that to one of the best
fighters in the business — is an impressive record.
Yet we have to wonder if boxing is as important to him as it once
was.
Perhaps the bout with Coley will give us the answer. It is a fight in
which De La Hoya has a chance to hit back at the critics who doubt his
fighting spirit, to send a message to Trinidad, but most of all to prove
to the boxing public at large — and maybe even to himself — that at his
core he is still a fighter.
Coley will be ready. The 29-year-old challenger has been waiting his
whole career for a fight such as this and has made unflattering comments
about the performances of both De La Hoya and Trinidad in the so-called
Fight of the Millennium.
There is no question about Coley’s courage or commitment and his
confidence seems genuine. He can box and punch. But Coley has a big
problem. His chin. There is a fragile look about him.
Coley brings to the fight a record of just one loss in 36 bouts, with
two draws — but what the record does not show is that three years ago
Coley was knocked out by Pat Coleman, a good Chicago fighter, in the
10th round. But Coleman tested positive for drugs. The verdict was
changed to "no decision". A fight that had no result.
Then, in March 1997, Coley was on the floor three times before
knocking out Kip Diggs, a useful but hardly outstanding fighter from the
Boston area, in the 11th round.
True, Coley showed heart in coming back from adversity, and he
finished the fight in exciting fashion. But the fact is that he found
himself in a life-and-death struggle with a fighter who is not world
class.
And although Coley won a split decision against the competent Willy
Wise, he seemed to have been wobbled a bit by a left hook in the last
round — and this against a boxer not considered to be a hard hitter.
Coley’s biggest fight was his 12-rounder against Oba Carr, later to
challenge De La Hoya. Coley lost a split decision in an excellent bout
in April 1995, at Las Vegas.
When Coley boxed on the outside he did very well indeed. But he got
caught up in trading punches, which suited the stronger Carr.
Coley could have won had he refrained from slugging, but he says he
likes being in fights that have lots of action and that, to him, it is
boring to make opponents miss.
So, with De La Hoya promising to turn on the heat, and Coley unwilling
to back down, it looks like being an exciting fight. While it lasts, of
course. And that may not be all that long, not if each man fights the
way he has talked.
Coley, going by the fights with Carr, Coleman and Diggs, simply does
not look strong enough to stand up to De La Hoya’s punches. He may well
rattle the Golden Boy — after all, he has scored 23 knockouts — but when
De La Hoya starts to land his big left hook, Coley probably will start
to wilt.
But anything less than a KO win by De La Hoya will not be considered
good enough by his detractors. Not good enough at all. |
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