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Erin Niemela,
Sr. Editor,
MyWorldofSports.com
The California Home Depot Center filled
with anxious fans awaiting the anticipated junior middleweight
fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Steve Forbes this
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008, and as De La Hoya entered the
ring, donning a black and orange robe, the crowd roared
for their obvious favorite. This fight was the first
of a farewell tour for De La Hoya, and his win will
lead him to a rematch against WBC welterweight champion
"Pretty Boy" Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Las Vegas
this coming September, 2008. Interestingly, Forbes was
trained by Jeff Mayweather, Floyd Mayweather's uncle,
while De La Hoya has trained under Floyd Mayweather
Sr, his father. MyWorldofSports.com caught up with Alex
"The Bronx Bomber" Ramos, 4 time New York
Golden Gloves champion, founder and president of the
Retired Boxers Foundation, and a boxer with 30 plus
years of experience, for his commentary during the fight.
Prior to Forbes' and De La Hoya's grand
entrances, Ramos anticipated some problems for the fight:
"Of course, you know, there's a big height difference
in this fight, which is gonna be kind of a lot of trouble,
I expect. [Forbes] is fighting a guy that's 5'10 ½,
whereas he's 5'7 ¼, so, it's gonna be tough …
you can see the difference in height." De La Hoya
stepped into the ring, "Now Oscar De La Hoya's
coming out, it's unbelievable, he looks very focused
… everybody's going bananas!"
"I always figure out in the first
30 seconds which fighter gets the fight," Ramos
told us into the first round. De La Hoya delivered a
series of jabs right off the bat, but Forbes countered
with his own double jabs. De La Hoya threw a nice left
hook, but Forbes kept up with his jabs, "He's fighting
back, he's looking good!" Ramos said of Forbes,
"You can tell right now that the difference is,
of course, that you've got a bigger fighter which is
5'10, and Steve Forbes was a junior lightweight –
which is 130lbs, and he needs to … keep the pressure,
and be able to take the fight to [De La Hoya]. When
you have a taller guy in front of you, you gotta keep
the pressure!" Forbes threw body shots, De La Hoya
countered with jabs, then right handed body shots, and
De La Hoya landed some overhand rights. Forbes pushed
him with a shoulder and delivered a combination of hits
to close the round, in favor of De La Hoya. Ramos told
MyWorldofSports.com, "He just hit him with a left
hook, right hand, left hook, double up - beautiful combination
by Steve Forbes … I love it, I love it, I love
it. So, right now, the fight's pretty even … I
don't have no predictions … as I've said, the 5'10
De La Hoya [is] fighting a guy that's a lot smaller
than he is, and he's throwing punches, but Steve Forbes
is coming back," Ramos explained.
The second round began with body shots
by De La Hoya, "De La Hoya's got the bigger reach.
De La Hoya hit him with a good body shot … I think
he hurt [Forbes] right now, it's gotta hurt … but
Steve Forbes come back with a double left punch –
he just hit De La Hoya with a right hand and a left
hand, back to back." De La Hoya continually caught
Forbes with jabs, but Forbes managed to connect some
body shots and a small straight before the close of
the round. Ramos commented, "[De La Hoya] keeps
catchin' him with a jab. I'd give this round to De La
Hoya." De La Hoya continued to connect those jabs
into round three, along with several hooks to the body.
Ramos mentioned, "If [De La Hoya] was a big puncher
it'd be a different story. If he was a big puncher,
he could hurt [Forbes] possibly … he's controlling
him very easy with the jab, but Steve Forbes is fighting
back … [Forbes] does not have the power to stop
him. You gotta have power to punch him."
"Steve Forbes
is looking good … but, he's not gonna win unless
he knocks him out," Ramos told us during round
four. De La Hoya connected a hard jab to Forbes' head,
but Forbes shook it off. Ramos commented, "Steve
Forbes just shook his head, like, 'you didn't hurt me.'
I love this ... He's runnin' around getting cocky, he's
coming right at De La Hoya, and he knows that he can't
hurt him … when a fighter hits you, you gotta make
it like it didn't do anything … you gotta go out
there and do your thing." Round four closed in
favor of De La Hoya, who dominated with his combinations.
"Right now, De La Hoya looks like
he's just overpowering Steve Forbes, he really is,"
Ramos told us during the break, while Forbes' corner
worked to fix his new bloody nose and De La Hoya's corner
applied more Vaseline. "It's an interesting fight
because the little guy, the smaller guy – rather,
is trying to put it out there, and you can tell he's
worked hard, and that it's the biggest fight of his
life," Ramos said.
Round five was disappointing to some De
La Hoya fans, as Forbes blocked some otherwise solid
hits. Both men managed to deliver some damaging hits
that, at the least, simply stunned each opponent, but
the trade-off of blows was anything besides destructive.
"The pace of the fight has been fast since round
one, no question," Ramos said, "it's a great
paced fight, but not anything really damaging …
just throwing punches."
Forbes came into round six with a right
hand and then a left hook. "Steve … he's looking
good. He's in great condition …" Ramos stated.
In a turn of events, a solid uppercut by De La Hoya
shakes Forbes and manages to cut him over the eye by
the end of the round.
De La Hoya dominated round seven with
several powerful left hooks, which kept Forbes off-kilter.
Forbes managed to get a few jabs and body shots, while
his performance in round eight involved a few lucky
strikes against De La Hoya including a connecting uppercut.
Ramos commented, "as of right now, the most punches
being thrown are [by] Oscar De La Hoya … the punches
that are landing are [by] Steve Forbes."
Round nine featured more jabs by De La
Hoya, weakening Forbes with each body shot. "Oscar
threw some punches in this last round, but nothing major
to hurt Steve Forbes. If you are fighting a smaller
guy, you should be able to out do him," Ramos stated.
"Oscar is winning the fight, so far.
He's ahead on points without a doubt. He's the bigger
man. Steve Forbes is putting up a good fight but there's
no question about who's winning the fight," Ramos
explained at the beginning of round ten. When asked
if he though Forbes still had a chance to win the fight,
Ramos replied, "Anybody has a chance! Listen, I
always tell people that, in the sport of boxing, when
you blink, as quick as you blink, anything can happen.
You have to have the power to stop somebody, and I don't
know if [Forbes] has that, but anybody can get knocked
out in this sport." De La Hoya delivered a flurry
of hits to Forbes, causing the crowd to go ballistic,
while Forbes tried to counter with a combination. "Again,
Oscar is applying the pressure," said Ramos. A
few solid hooks by De La Hoya left Forbes' face looking
awfully broken in.
Round eleven involved some decent body
shots and combinations, as well as double and triple
hit combinations by Forbes, but nothing as damaging
as he may have been looking for. "If he doesn't
do anything with these next few rounds, then Oscar wins
the fight," Ramos said, "it's the reach that's
been giving [Forbes] trouble." MyWorldofSports.com
asked Ramos why Forbes might not be able to secure a
knockout. He replied, "…you have punchers
and then you have boxers. Oscar's a boxer, not a major
puncher, and if this guy was a puncher, he would be
able to knock De La Hoya out."
De La Hoya looked for the knockout in
the final round, while Forbes kept his hands close to
block some hits. De La Hoya landed hard jabs and hooks,
at certain times making Forbes back up. "One of
the things Steve Forbes is doing is … putting his
hands up after he gets hit with a combination, but it's
not doing nothing. He's a little guy," Ramos commented,
"if Steve Forbes had the power, he could do something,
but he doesn't have the power." The final round
ended without a knockout, with the scores favoring De
La Hoya.
Oscar De La Hoya, "The Golden Boy,"
took the win with a final scores of 119-109, 119-109,
120-108 unanimous judges' decision, and his win will
take him into a rematch with Floyd Mayweather, Jr.,
in Las Vegas, on September 20th, 2008, and we, here
at MyWorldofSports.com, wish him the best of luck.
Erin Niemela
Sr. Editor, MyWorldofSports.com
Special thanks to Alex "The Bronx
Bomber" Ramos, founder and president of the Retired
Boxers Foundation, for his color-commentary.
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