By Johnny Ortiz

Writing this article, I will from time to time revert to some of the comments I made in my last article concerning the fight this past Saturday night between Oscar De La Hoya and Ricardo Mayorga. In writing it, I tried to emphasize just how slim the possibilities of Ricardo Mayorga winning his fight with Oscar were. After getting hit with a hard jab, right hand, and then a devastating left hook that dropped him like a sack of potatoes, Ricardo would later say how surprised he was by Oscar’s power. I had pointed out that Oscar, being a converted southpaw, made his left hook even more of a lethal weapon, Oscar has always been a good puncher, Mayorga just had to learn the hard way.

I wrote that Ricardo had never been in with a fighter with the hand speed of Oscar, that when Mayorga threw wild punches and missed, he would leave himself wide open, making him vulnerable for the Golden Boy’s educated, quick counterpunches. Knowing that Oscar is old school, learning early on that everything comes off the jab, I knew he would keep a hard jab in Ricardo’s face in order to get off his combinations and power shots. He did just that from the very first round on. Knowing he had hurt Mayorga, Oscar knew it would only be a matter of time; a fighter knows and feels these things. As far as picking a winner, I wrote that the only way Oscar could lose the fight would be to become completely brain dead.

I was surprised how many people thought that Ricardo would win, some even believing that Mayorga would knock out Oscar. Las Vegas Sportsbooks reported that lot of money came in on Mayorga. The people I’m referring to have really no knowledge of what boxing is all about, if they did their homework they would have found that Ricardo hadn’t knocked anyone out since he caught Vernon Forrest off guard, stopping him in the third round of their first fight. Michelle Piccrillo, Eric Mitchell, Cory Spinks and Vernon Forrest have all taken El Matator the distance, if these mediocre fighters, with the exception of Forrest and possibly Spinks, could accomplish this feat, how in the world could these people who claim to know boxing, pick Mayorga, a blown up welterweight, to knock out Oscar when he has only been stopped once in his career, and that took a picture perfect, awesome liver shot by all-time great middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins?

These people must have short memories, they have forgotten that Oscar takes a great shot, has a great fighter’s heart, is a good puncher, and most importantly, is, and has always been, an outstanding defensive fighter. Compared to Mayorga’s inability to defend himself when he throws caution to the winds, again I must ask, how do these guys justify picking Mayorga, the majority by knockout? Did they think that Oscar had forgotten everything he had learned about boxing since the age of five? No, I have to think that the ones who picked against the Golden Boy are among the select few who are still Oscar haters, down deep they want to see him fail, what other reason could they possibly have of going with Mayorga, who at best is now a journeyman fighter who has been stopped in two of his last three fights.

When Oscar said in an interview prior to the fight that he knew a lot of people thought he was going to box Ricardo, use his jab and move, to those people he threw out a resounding, emphatic, “NO!” He went on to say that he was going to stand in front of Ricardo and fight, fight him strong. Knowing Oscar not to be a blowhard, I knew he was going to put a hurt on Ricardo. After all, wasn’t Oscar the bigger, stronger, and a much better all around fighter than his professional amateur counterpart? Ricardo Mayorga, having fought most of his career at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds, had only fought at the jr. middleweight limit two times before meeting Oscar, a very natural jr. middleweight. Oscar had fought at 154 pounds on five different occasions, and fought two other fights against Felix Strum and Bernard Hopkins at the middleweight level, weighing only 155 for the Hopkins fight. Picking the winner in Saturday night’s fight was a no brainer, it reminded me of the time I took a lot of flack on my radio show for not only picking Bernard Hopkins to beat Felix Trinidad, but picking him to knock Tito out.

Everyone thought I was crazy, there was never a doubt in my mind that Bernard would KO Mr. Trinidad, just as I never had a doubt in my mind that Oscar would be successful in going for a knockout when the opportunity presented itself, I haven’t followed Oscar his whole career not to know that it would take a hell of a lot better fighter than Mayorga to get the better of him. Now that Oscar has taken care of the “Pussycat that Roared,” he must decide who he will fight on September 16th, the farewell bout he has planned before entering into a well-deserved retirement. The names being tossed around are, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Tito Trinidad, Winky Wright, Antonio Margarito, and now a new name has surfaced, Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton.

There is also the possibility that Oscar may retire without fighting anyone. Oscar has said, “No fight after this is a guarantee, I think people are going to be surprised what decision I make.” With everyone expecting Oscar to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr., this decision would come as no surprise, so the only thing I can think of that would totally surprise anyone is that he will either retire or he will announce that Ricky Hatton will be his farewell fight. It makes sense, Oscar wants to go out on top, he would beat Floyd Jr, but Hatton would be the easier fight. Although a fight with Floyd jr. would go through the roof, fighting the undefeated Hatton would take on worldwide proportions. It would be viewed by all of England and throughout all of Europe, throw in all of the money it would make in the States, Oscar could not only go out a champion, but a very rich one at that.

Oscar is an honorable man; he believes in family, fighting Floyd Jr. would go against everything he believes in. Being that Floyd Jr. is the son of his trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr., Oscar does not want to disrespect him by fighting his kid. He knows that Floyd Sr. is against the fight, even though he has sadly said that he would step aside if Oscar did indeed decide to fight his son. Being that he himself is the father of three, Oscar has called Floyd Sr.’s objection understandable. “As a father, I respect how he feels, blood is thicker than water, honestly, I feel the same way as he does. Floyd Sr. has also gone on record as saying: “If I have anything to do with it, and I have a lot to do with it, it ain’t going to happen. I know everybody wants to see it, but step in my shoes, train somebody else to knock your kid out? It’s a no win situation.” Upon hearing of his father’s dilemma, Floyd Jr. countered with, “My daddy’s entitled to his own opinion, but Oscar is his own businessman and I am my own businessman, “The Golden Boy” vs. “The Pretty Boy” would be the biggest fight in boxing history. I think this is a fight I deserve, this is a fight the fans deserve.”

I think Pretty Boy is a little full of himself, I admit the fight would be huge, but the biggest fight in boxing history? I don’t think so.

On fighting Floyd Jr. without Floyd Sr. being in his corner, Oscar had this to say: “If I fight again, I have to have Floyd Sr. in my corner, he’s the person who brings the confidence, he’s the person who brings the game-plan together. It’s a matter of having a solid team and without him, we would be missing that link, it would be impossible.” With that said, it would seem that a De La Hoya-Mayweather Jr. fight is not likely to materialize. Although Tito Trinidad would be a great fight, Oscar doesn’t need it, he knows as well as anyone who saw their first fight that he already beat Tito, he was robbed big-time, a fighter doesn’t win eight of twelve rounds and lose. Oscar took bad advise from his corner and coasted the last three rounds in a fight that he had under lock and key, if you were to view the fight again you would see that Tito did not do anything historic in the remaining three rounds. If they were to indeed fight again, I would pick Oscar in a heartbeat.

Also, Tito’s last fight with Winky Wright will never be confused with the greatest fights of all time. Speaking of Winky, if he is to be included in the Golden Boy sweepstakes, he must first get by Jermain Taylor, something I do not think he will be able to do. Antonio Margarito is someone I would advise Oscar not to fight, it would be a great matchup and the toughest of all the aforementioned, but Oscar doesn’t need the fight. I have been saying all along that Margarito is possibly the best fighter out there, no one wants to fight him, he is the WBO welterweight champion who would be very comfortable fighting at 154 pounds, the only knock on Antonio is that he is not that well known. Take my word for it, that day is coming.

I have no doubt in my mind that Margarito would hand Floyd Mayweather Jr. his first recorded loss if they ever fought. Antonio is simply too big, too strong, and too good. Oscar would beat Pretty Boy for all of the same reasons. Oscar would not make the purse he deserves to leave boxing with if he were to fight Antonio Margarito. If he were to stay in boxing, it would be different, but because it would be Oscar’s last fight, he has to go out with the most lucrative purse possible. Who can blame him?

As I mentioned, Ricky Hatton presents the best money out there, Floyd Jr. would be huge, but as I pointed out, a fight that stands to be seen universally would generate the most money. As Floyd Jr. mentioned, Oscar is a businessman, he should leave with the most money possible with the easiest fight out there, and that would be Ricky Hatton. The Hitman has built a huge worldwide following, he is exceptionally well liked. Beating the great Kostya Tzsyu put him over the top big-time. He has an outstanding record of 40 wins, no losses, capped with 30 knockouts. The reason I say that it would be Oscar’s easiest fight among the other four, is the fact that this Saturday night, Ricky will be going to the post in his very first fight at the 147 pound welterweight limit.

Ricky recently gave up the IBF/WBA light welterweight titles he won from Kostya Tzsyu in order to challenge WBA welterweight champion Luis Collazo (26 wins, no losses w/12 KO’s). With only one welterweight fight under his belt, he stands no chance to beat the Oscar who used Ricardo Mayorga as a punching bag. Standing only 5’6 to Oscar’s 5’10 ½, with a reach of only 65’ compared to Oscar’s 73’, he would be a sitting duck for the Golden Boy’s hard jabs followed with devastating combinations and big power shots. Ricky would fight his heart out, that is his trademark, make no mistake about it, he is every bit the warrior, but he would find it hard to penetrate Oscar’s great defense. Oscar would simply be too big in every way; the only comparison I can make is when Oscar completely destroyed the ultimate warrior, Arturo Gatti, in five rounds.

Oscar was just too big for the Thunder that was Gatti. Hatton would not stop trying, but it would be to no avail, he would last until he could not take anymore of Oscar’s fast, big bombs. If not Hatton, we will just have to wait until Oscar makes his decision. I would rather see Oscar fight Trinidad, but as I pointed out, he has to go out with what is best for him. In my heart, I believe I would rather see Oscar retire than face a physically diminutive Ricky Hatton; I really do not want to see a replay of the Arturo Gatti beating. I, like so many other fans, have grown fond of the tough, little guy from Manchester, England, who took out one of my all time favorite fighters in Kostya Tszyu. Ricky will be fighting this Saturday night in Boston, Massachusetts against Collazo.

I really do not know much about Collazo other than what I found in his boxing record. If I were a betting man I would have to go with Ricky big time to win the welterweight title held by Collazo, Luis would need more than his 12 KO’s in twenty-six wins to hold off the offensive, punches in bunches, train wreck that is…Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton.

JOHNNY ORTIZ IS A MEMBER OF THE WORLD BOXING HALL OF FAME BOARD OF DIRECTORS, A MEMBER OF THE GOLDEN STATE BOXERS ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS, A MEDIA ADVISOR FOR THOMPSON BOXING PROMOTIONS AND A FORMER CO-OWNER OF THE WORLD FAMOUS, LEGENDARY MAIN ST. GYM.