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De La Hoya’s performance against Sturm reasserted the notion of how the “Golden Boy” has declined in recent years. Even though De La Hoya, who began his career 12 years ago, is fighting at a higher weight he is easier to hit and fatigues in the second-half of his fights. This time it nearly cost him a September 18 showdown with Hopkins. Five years ago, De La Hoya was winning the biggest fight of his career when he outfought Felix Trinidad through seven rounds. But in the last five rounds, De La Hoya ran out of gas and allowed Trinidad to rally for a close majority decision victory. In June 2000, De La Hoya became a stationary target as Sugar Shane Mosley, moving up two weight classes from 135 to 147, used his quicker hand speed and better footwork to sweep the second half of the fight to win. In a rematch last year, De La Hoya was well in control of the pace he set against Mosley, but did not have an answer for Mosley’s relentless body attack in the final three rounds. De La Hoya came up short of victory once more. Against Sturm, the signs of De La Hoya fading down the stretch toward another loss were on the horizon and almost clear as day. Sturm was relentless with his right jabs and uppercuts, as he controlled the pace of the fight. De La Hoya threw flurries, but was not as accurate or at times energetic as Sturm. De La Hoya tired in the second-half of the contest as his white shorts were bloody. De La Hoya became aggravated, as his dream match with Hopkins was slipping away. In the eleventh, Sturm frustrated De La Hoya when he switched to a southpaw (left-handed) stance. De La Hoya threw everything he had in the twelfth, but Sturm was unmoved. When the decision was announced, De La Hoya had defeated Sturm on all three judges scorecards 115-113. Sturm landed 234 of 541 punches to 188 of 792 for De La Hoya. De La Hoya may have been aggressive, but Sturm dictated the pace and was more accurate. De La Hoya will move on to face Hopkins (44-2-1, 31 KOs), who in the co-feature of the “Collision Course” pay per view package valued at $49.99, defeated Robert Allen (36-5, 27 KOs) for his 18th consecutive defense of the world middleweight championship. Hopkins himself nearly lit a match on the super-fight with De La Hoya. Hopkins threatened to pullout of the fight with Allen when he discovered that Joe Cortez would be the referee. Hopkins had Cortez banned from officiating his last two fights against Trinidad and William Joppy. Hopkins felt that Cortez held animosity against him after “The Executioner” threw the Puerto Rican flag prior to fighting Trinidad nearly three years ago. Cortez is of Puerto Rican decent. Cortez was fair, firm, but barely issued a warning to Hopkins, but docked Allen one point for hitting below the belt. Hopkins and Allen was no crowd pleaser, as there was plenty of hold and hitting from the inside Hopkins knocked Allen down the seventh round with a barrage of punches. Allen barely survived. The three judges scored the bout for Hopkins: 119-107 (twice) and 117-109.
 Copyright 2006 by BlackAthlete.net, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
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