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LAS VEGAS - The issue all along, Oscar De La Hoya understood, was not what he would do with Ricardo Mayorga on May 6 but rather what he'd do on May 7, after he was finished with him. That remains the question today, although anyone who has watched De La Hoya for long assumes he knows the answer to that just as he knew the answer all along to Mayorga's angry riddle.
It took barely a minute for De La Hoya to make clear to Mayorga that his foul-mouthed pre-fight insults and vows of a violent end to their impending confrontation had fallen on deaf ears. Refusing to back up or use his speed and smooth footwork to slip away when Mayorga charged from his corner of the MGM Grand Garden Arena to open the first round of their WBC junior middleweight title fight, De La Hoya elected instead to hold his ground, ducking and slipping one wild bomb after another while calmly waiting, like the mongoose, for the mistake he knew was coming.
When Mayorga made it, De La Hoya struck, rapping him with a hard right hand and seconds later a counter left hook that beat Mayorga's own right hand to its target and sent him sprawling to the floor. In barely a minute boxing's Golden Boy had delivered the message he intended.
"I was hitting him with my right hand and he felt the power,'' De La Hoya said. "My trainer and my brother told me to stay on my toes and use my jab. I did later. But no matter what, I was going to stand up to him and let him know right away I was here to fight. I had to show the bully I wasn't going to back down. He fought recklessly, but I stood my ground. He saw I wouldn't back down.'' [details]
It took barely a minute for De La Hoya to make clear to Mayorga that his foul-mouthed pre-fight insults and vows of a violent end to their impending confrontation had fallen on deaf ears. Refusing to back up or use his speed and smooth footwork to slip away when Mayorga charged from his corner of the MGM Grand Garden Arena to open the first round of their WBC junior middleweight title fight, De La Hoya elected instead to hold his ground, ducking and slipping one wild bomb after another while calmly waiting, like the mongoose, for the mistake he knew was coming.
When Mayorga made it, De La Hoya struck, rapping him with a hard right hand and seconds later a counter left hook that beat Mayorga's own right hand to its target and sent him sprawling to the floor. In barely a minute boxing's Golden Boy had delivered the message he intended.
"I was hitting him with my right hand and he felt the power,'' De La Hoya said. "My trainer and my brother told me to stay on my toes and use my jab. I did later. But no matter what, I was going to stand up to him and let him know right away I was here to fight. I had to show the bully I wasn't going to back down. He fought recklessly, but I stood my ground. He saw I wouldn't back down.'' [details]
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