STILL THE GOLDEN BOY: OSCAR STOPS MAYORGA IN SIXTH

07/05/2006

STILL THE GOLDEN BOY: OSCAR STOPS MAYORGA IN SIXTH

Oscar De La Hoya returned from a twenty-month absence from active boxing with a resounding victory over Ricardo Mayorga in Las Vegas that earned the Golden Boy yet another championship belt to his collection. De La Hoya defeated Ricardo Mayorga by sixth-round technical knockout to capture Mayorga's WBC 154-pound title.  De La Hoya floored Mayorga about a minute into the bout, and controlled all of the action until he floored Mayorga again in the sixth. Mayorga, once again exposed as little more than a crude brawler, beat the count, but was not permitted to continue by referee Jay Nady. The win means the remarkable 14-year pro career of the 1992 Olympic gold medalist will continue for at least one more fight, likely in September, and hopefully for boxing fans, against Floyd Mayweather, Jr. or Felix Trinidad. The outcome demonstrated there is more to the sport of boxing than trash talking and raw aggression. The pre-fight build-up contrasted the styles of De La Hoya, a succesful promoter and gentleman outside the ring, and Mayorga, an unapologetic thug who obscenely taunted De La Hoya, Cory Spinks and Vernon Forrest before big fights in recent years.  This was De La Hoya's first clear-cut victory in three years. Now 38-4, De La Hoya was last knocked out in September of 2004 by Bernard Hopkins. In the fight before that, he won a highly controversial decision over Felix Sturm and previous to the Sturm bout, De La Hoya lost to Shane Mosley, but in fairness, a strong case can be made that De La Hoya deserved that decision.-Scott Shaffer